The second game of the IPL 11 featured Kings XI Punjab playing host to Delhi Daredevils at the PCA Stadium, Mohali. The 2 redefined teams were on the show where the hosts bagged the honors courtesy a thunderous KL Rahul who scored the fastest ever IPL fifty.
Initially, the newly appointed captain of KXIP – Ravichandran Ashwin won the toss and invited the visitors to bat first. DD suffered an early blow when Colin Munro was trapped in front by the Afghan leg-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman in the 3rd over. Ashwin applied the pressure with a flurry of spinners at the top while Gautam Gambhir stood firm at one end.
He saw the dismissals of Shreyas Iyer and Vijay Shankar on his way to a half-century. The score reached 90/3 after 12 overs and that’s when Rishabh Pant provided the much-needed impetus to the innings with some lusty blows. But the left-hander, his skipper and Rahul Tewatia departed in a quick succession that left the side in a spot of bother. But Chris Morris and Daniel Christian collected 39 runs off the last 4 overs to take the team to a respectable 166/7.
In reply, KL Rahul went absolutely berserk from the outset and hammered Trent Boult for 16 runs in the first over. A couple of boundaries in the next over and 24 runs from Amit Mishra’s 3rd over, took the score past fifty and also brought up the half-century for Rahul off just 14 balls that turned out to be the fastest in the IPL history.
Mayank Agarwal didn’t last long and departed in the 4th over and soon was followed by Rahul. Yuvraj Singh and Karun Nair steadied the ship as the score raced off to 73/2 after the powerplay. While Karun was scoring freely, Yuvraj didn’t look all that comfortable and his stay of 12 runs off 20 balls was ended Rahul Tewatia in the 10th over.
Even the though the run rate dipped in the following overs, the flourish at the start allowed David Miller and Nair to bat themselves in. Nair reached his fifty in the 16th over but got out off the next ball. Without too much fuss, Miller and Marcus Stoinis took KXIP past the line with 7 balls in hand.
Match Summary
Kings XI Punjab won the toss and opted to bowl first
Delhi Daredevils:Â 166/7 in 20 overs
Gautam Gambhir 55, Rishabh Pant 28
Mujeeb Ur Rahman 28/2, Mohit Sharma 33/2
Kings XI Punjab:Â 167/4 in 18.5 overs
KL Rahul 51, Karun Nair 50
Daniel Christian 12/1, Rahul Tewatia 24/1
Kings XI Punjab won by 6 wickets
Player of the Match: KL Rahul
Here’s how Twitter responded to the blitz of KL Rahul and KXIP
That’s the beauty of IPL. We haven’t finished two matches yet and we have already seen 2 young spinners create an impact. Yesterday it was Markande and today Mujeeb was excellent. #KXIPvsDD
— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) April 8, 2018
KL Rahul … Fastest ever #IPL 50 … 14 balls !!!!!!!! #Carnage
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) April 8, 2018
Mujeeb Ur Rahman …. 17 yrs old …. from Afghanistan …. 2-28 on his #IPL2018 debut ….. Fantastic to watch ….
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) April 8, 2018
DD might be 15 runs short in setting the target. Fastest ever #IPL fifty by KL Rahul is certainly not going to help their cause. #KXIPvsDD superb batting display
— zaheer khan (@ImZaheer) April 8, 2018
Has the pitch changed character or is has it been exceptional batting from the Kxip batsmen especially @klrahul11 have made this chase look simple so far #VivoIPL2018
— Kartik Murali (@kartikmurali) April 8, 2018
Fastest 50 in @IPL the bar gets pushed yet again, this time by #KLRahul ,and he did it with proper shots #KXIPvDD #IPL2018 #BadriBytes
— S.Badrinath (@s_badrinath) April 8, 2018
Another young spinner from Afghanistan. Again impressive on a big stage. #MujeebZadran
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 8, 2018
I have long believed that @klrahul11 is amongst the top 3 Indian batsmen in the shortest format of the game. The fastest IPL fifty just goes to show the class he possesses. #KXIPvsDD
— Shubham Khare (@shubhamkhare71) April 8, 2018
Best part of Rahul’s super-knock was the fact that he played all the cricketing shots….rate him very highly. Good to see him shine. #KXIPvDD #IPL
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) April 8, 2018
https://twitter.com/SirJadeja/status/982970476921143296
Fastest 5⃣0⃣ in Vivo @IPL ✔
Perfect start to the 2nd innings ✔
Man of the match ✔#KXIPvDD #LivePunjabiPlayPunjabi pic.twitter.com/cY174Q8kgl— Punjab Kings (@PunjabKingsIPL) April 8, 2018
The 14 ball 50 doesn't surprise me so much as I am surprised when this guy sits out for Team India in any format! I Top notch @klrahul11 #IPL2018 #LivePunjabiPlayPunjabi #KXIPvDD
— Abeer Ligga (@abbuligga) April 8, 2018
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