KL Rahul’s century sails victory for Kings XI Punjab against Royal Challengers Bangalore!

Happy Kings XI dugout for beating RCB with a huge margin of 97 runs.

Kannur Lokesh Rahul. What an innings by this young man! He stole the show with his KLassic power strokes making 132* off 69 balls. After putting on to bat first by Virat Kohli led Royal Challengers Bangalore, the Kings XI Punjab skipper KL Rahul played an anchor role to take his team towards victory.

KL Rahul opened the innings alongside Mayank Agarwal. Both of them got to a decent start. They batted throughout the power play and built a partnership of 57 runs in 7 overs after which Agarwal was bowled out by Yuzvendra Chahal. Agarwal contributed 26 runs off 20 balls.

Chahal strikes early, dismissing Agarwal

Picture courtesy : Instagram/@iplt20

Another partnership was built up between the skipper and the left handed Nicholas Pooran. They added 57 runs off 37 balls. This gave Pooran the license to hit biggies but failed terribly as the ball safely landed in Ab de Villiers’ hands at mid-off. Pooran badly executed the over pitched delivery by Shivam Dube.

Glenn Maxwell came in at number 4. Chahal was put to bowl for an interesting contest between the two lads. Maxi and Chahal have played 8 innings against each other out of which the leggie has dismissed Maxi on 5 occasions. However, Maxwell sneaked a single of Chahal’s only delivery to him, which was also Chahal’s last over for the innings. Anyway, Maxwell had to walk back cheaply in the next over off Dube. The Australian batter scored just 5 runs off 6 balls before he was caught by Aaron Finch at covers.

Karun Nair was the new man to support his captain playing beautifully on the other end. Nair scored 15 off 8 balls that he faced, for he gave maximum strike to his Kannada companion.

Rampant Rahul was playing exceptionally well. He hit his 17th IPL 50 in 36 balls, 68% of those runs came in 4s and 6s. Being the quickest runner that he is, he took runs in singles and doubles without getting tired. His performance on Dubai’s batting pitch was above par. The RCB bowlers struggled to dismiss him for when he played a loose shot, he was dropped by Virat Kohli twice (83 and 89 respectively) at the boundary between 6 balls.

Quite honestly I was nervous but I knew if I spend time in the middle, hit a few balls from the middle of the bat, it will all settle down. – KL Rahul at the post match presentation ceremony.

A few more stylish shots kept the scoreboard ticking. The Kings XI touched 150 runs in the 18th over. And then it was KL’s show for he scored his 2nd IPL century with a boundary over short third man. He took off his helmet and appreciated the applauses from his team mates and owners and did the “I don’t hear anything” celebration. KL Rahul has certainly, shut the noise with his hundred.

KL Rahul celebrating his century in style

Picture courtesy : Business Standard

Consequently, the wicket-keeping opener set a standard for all batsmen. KL completed 2000 IPL runs in 60 innings beating master blaster Sachin Tendulkar (63), which is the fastest by any Indian batsman. KL’s 132* is the highest score in IPL by any Indian and any Captain. The rightly admired leader of the pack is also the current holder of the orange cap with 153 runs, given to the batsman with highest runs in the tournament.

Playing with a strike rate of over 190, KL Rahul made sure that all the bowlers are punished and made RCB pay the price for winning the toss. While Umesh Yadav and Dale Steyn were brutally punished, the young boys Dube and Navdeep Saini controlled the run rate. Chahal gave his best giving away just 25 runs and picking a wicket of Mayank Agarwal in his quota of 4 overs.

Yet, the Royal Challengers had a mammoth total of 207 runs to chase.

The second innings started with left handed Devdutt Padikkal and right handed Aaron Finch. After a great debut in the first match, Paddikal was caught out after making just one run from 2 balls in the first over by Sheldon Cottrell. The new batsman Joshua Philippe was plumbed for a duck in the next over by Mohammed Shami. Virat Kohli, in at 4, fell prey in the 3rd over. The pressure built up on the skipper made him play big shots leading to mistakes. He was caught by Ravi Bishnoi after making just 1 run from 4 balls.

Virat Kohli’s early dismissal turned out to be fatal for RCB

Picture courtesy : Twitter/@RCBTweets

A partnership was forming between ABD and Finch. Finch was caught leg before wicket but a review by RCB at the right time changed the original decision by the on-field umpire. With 2 great batsmen at the crease, the pressure was on the young bowler Bishnoi. His first over turned out to be very expensive for he gave 2 extras and 3 boundaries, totaling at 15 runs. Perhaps, Bishnoi with a big heart came back stronger and bowled Finch for 20 runs off 21 balls. Murugan Ashwin on the other end dismissed ABD for 28 runs off 18 balls. Both these batsmen were looking very dangerous but the spinners had their work done.

Ravi Bishnoi celebrating Finch’s wicket.

Picture courtesy : Twitter/@KingsXIPunjab

The score was 60 for 5 at the end of 9 overs. The next 5 wickets also fell down in the following 8 overs. The total was too big for the tailenders to chase down. After ABD was dismissed, just three 4s were hit by the RCB batsman. Whereas, KL Rahul had single handedly hit thirteen 4s and four 6s in his innings. He never lost his balance in doing so.

All in all, a very bad day for RCB especially the skipper for dropping catches and getting dismissed for just a run. Virat will have a few things to think about before his next game against Mumbai Indians, who are returning after a huge win over Kolkata Knight Riders.

I take brunt of it, I dropped some chances. Maybe if we had restricted them under 180, we would not be under pressure from ball 1 in the chase. – Virat Kohli at the post match presentation ceremony

With Anil Kumble alongside, the Kings XI Punjab are on top of the points table with +2.43 net run rate. Special mention to the captain for hitting in the gaps and playing with a straight bat, rousing us with the sweet noise of the bat and ball. Rightly deserved, he was lauded with awards at the post match presentation including the Man of the Match award.

Mohammad Shami and KL Rahul posing with their coloured caps for taking highest wickets and scoring highest runs, respectively, in the tournament so far.

Picture courtesy : Twitter/@KingsXIPunjab

Match Summary :

Kings XI Punjab 206/3 (20)

Playing XI – KL Rahul (C & WK), Mayank Agarwali, Karun Nair, Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, Sarfaraz Khan, James Neesham, Murugan Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammad Shami and Sheldon Cottrell.

Royal Challengers Bangalore 109/10 (17)

Playing XI – Devdutt Padikkal, Aaron Finch, Virat Kohli (C), AB de Villiers, Josh Philippe (WK), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini, Umesh Yadav, Dale Steyn, and Yuzvendra Chahal.

Winning team – Kings XI Punjab (by 97 runs)

Man of the Match – KL Rahul

Dream11 Game Changer – KL Rahul

Altroz Super Striker of the Match – KL Rahul

Unacademy Let’s Crack it Sixes – KL Rahul

CRED Power Player of the Match – Sheldon Cottrell

Unquestionably, a perfect day for the Preity Zinta owned Kings XI team. But, it also happened to be one of the darkest days for the entire cricket fraternity. We lost Dean Jones earlier in the day. All the players wore a black band on their sleeves to show respect to our beloved Prof. Deano. The cricket world will never forget Australia’s greatest batter and fielder who set the bar for generations to come.

As the showman Prof. Deano was, the show must go on. With just a few hours remaining for another interesting match between the experienced, Dhoni led Chennai Super Kings and the youngest captain Shreyas Iyer’s Delhi Capitals.

Dean Jones

Picture courtesy : The Indian Express

Who’s your pick for tonight? Let us know in the comments below!