IPL 13: KL Rahul's record-breaking ton guides KXIP to 206/3
Sep 24, 2020
Dubai [UAE], September 24 : Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) skipper KL Rahul's unbeaten century guided the side to 206/3 in their allotted 20 overs against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at Dubai International Stadium here on Thursday.
Rahul scored 132* off 69 balls studded with seven sixes and 14 fours. He also achieved the highest individual score by an Indian player in the Indian Premier League's (IPL) history.
After being asked to bat first by RCB, KXIP had a decent opening stand of 57-run for the first wicket between Rahul and Mayank Agarwal.
Meanwhile, Rahul, who was two short of 2,000 runs in the IPL, became the fastest Indian to reach the 2,000 run-mark in the tournament.
Rahul broke an eight-year-old record held by Indian batting legend and former Mumbai Indians player Sachin Tendulkar, who reached the milestone in 63 innings. Rahul reached the milestone in his 60th IPL innings.
Spinner Yuzvendra Chahal broke the opening partnership in the seventh over as he scalped Agarwal on 26. Nicholas Pooran joined Rahul in the middle. The duo had a 57-run partnership for the second wicket.
All-rounder Shivam Dube dismissed Pooran (17) in the 14th over as he was caught at mid-off by AB de Villiers.
Glenn Maxwell (5) failed to score big runs and was caught at extra cover by Aaron Finch off Dube in the 16th over.
Karun Nair joined Rahul in the middle and built a 78-run unbeaten stand for the fourth wicket. Both the players smashed RCB bowlers all-round the park. The duo scored 49-run in the last two overs. Nair remained not out on 15 runs off eight balls.
Rahul got lucky twice as he was dropped by Virat Kohli on both occasions.
Earlier, Kohli went on with the same playing eleven that won the last game against SunRisers Hyderabad while Punjab roped in M Ashwin and Jimmy Neesham in place of Krishnappa Gowtham and Chris Jordan.
