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You might say the match was roughly determined in the third over when Virat Kohli was caught at mid-on. Or earlier, when Kohli had dropped KL Rahul twice in consecutive overs. In between, Kings XI Punjab cantered from 157/3 to 206/Three earlier than they nixed Devdutt Padikkal and Josh Philippe. It was virtually ordained to be Rahul’s day. Nothing might come between him and a traditional T20 century that helped Kings XI Punjab construct the basis of a complete 97-run victory towards Royal Challengers Bangalore of their Indian Premier League match in Dubai on Thursday.
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Rahul scored 132 – the highest ever rating by a captain in an IPL match, additionally the highest ever by an Indian. In the course of he additionally surpassed Sachin Tendulkar to develop into the quickest Indian batsman to 2000 IPL runs. It was actually a captain’s knock. But extra considerably, it was a lesson in how to anchor a disciplined T20 innings when the pitch doesn’t permit the batsman to play by means of the line comfortably. Thread the gaps for boundaries when the area is up, squirt ample singles in the center overs after which go for these floor clearing hits – Rahul did every little thing with aplomb. He cleared the boundary on seven events, however solely as soon as earlier than the 16th over, that too off a free-hit in the 10th over.
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The wayward bowling of RCB helped after all. Except Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar, all the pacers struggled to management the ball so as to discover the slower one. Dale Steyn misfired one in the 17th over however Navdeep Saini and Umesh Yadav extra usually. That allowed Rahul sew consecutive 57-run partnerships with Mayank Agarwal and Nicholas Pooran earlier than placing up a 78-run fourth-wicket stand with Karun Nair that just about seemed a solo act. It was Kohli’s fumbles although that landed the closing blows.
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The first, off Steyn, was a low full toss that Rahul tried to whip over deep midwicket. Kohli went ahead just a few paces earlier than pedalling again and take a catch over his head. But the ball didn’t stick. The subsequent likelihood was less complicated. Saini’s slower supply in the 18th over prevented Rahul from clearing the long-off boundary. It ballooned up however Kohli spilled it once more. Barring these two probabilities although, Rahul was an epitome of poise. And he performed all spherical the wicket as effectively.
By the time he was completed, Rahul had scored 60 runs by means of the off-side and 72 on the on-side, the cowl drive being the most prolific shot, fetching him 28 runs by means of three boundaries and two sixes. Twice he didn’t rating a boundary for eight balls however when the time got here, he went from 90 off 60 to 132 off 69, scoring 42 off the 49 runs Kings XI scored in the closing two overs. Kohli might solely watch. It was that form of a day.
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