Dubai: KL Rahul batted like a man possessed as he smashed his way to 132 runs of just 69 deliveries and helped his side Kings XI Punjab smash the Royal Challengers Bangalore by a massive 97-run margin here in an Indian Premier League encounter on Thursday.
Rahul’s knock of 132 runs became not only the highest individual score in the IPL by an Indian but it is also the highest by a team’s captain. On his way the Punjab batter also became the fastest individual to 2000 IPL runs surpassing the legendary Sachin Tendulkar.
On the other hand, Rahul’s opposite number Virat Kohli had a day to forget on the field. The RCB captain not only dropped KL Rahul twice but also scored just one run with the bat in a game that needed his best efforts.
Chasing 206/3, RCB were skittled out for 109 in just 17 overs.
It was however, Virat Kohli who won the toss and elected to bowl first. Both Kings XI openers Rahul and Mayank Agarwal were steady from the outset and got their team off to a flier. While Agarwal played second fiddle, Rahul had his opportunity to go beserk. And the latter did not stop and remained unbeaten till the very end. The Kings XI talisman was well supported by Nicholas Pooran and then Karun Nair.
It was the last two overs where things really got out of hands for RCB in the field as Rahul tonked 26 and 23 runs of Dale Steyn and Shivam Dube to get his side to a mammoth score.
In reply, RCB started losing wickets from the very beginning. Devdutt Padikkal, Josh Philippe and their star captain Kohli went back to the dug out scoring 1,0,1 respectively. With 4/3, there was hardly any chance to get back into the game for the red and golds. AB De Villiers (28) and Washington Sundar (30) helped RCB get some runs on board and scrape past the 100 run mark but they were never really in the game at any point in the chase.
During the game, as a mark of respect to Australian legend Dean Jones who passed away in the afternoon the players wore black armbands.
Brief Scores:
Kings XI Punjab: 206/3
KL Rahul: 132, Mayank Agarwal: 26
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 109
Washington Sundar: 30, AB De Villiers: 28
