Riding on KL Rahul’s record-breaking fifty, Kings XI Punjab thrashed Delhi Daredevils by 6 wickets in their season-opener.
Chasing a modest 167 on a good batting pitch, Kings XI Punjab opener KL Rahul came out all guns blazing. He pretty much killed off the contest inside the first three overs, smashing the fastest IPL fifty. He took only 14 balls to reach the milestone. As a result, the hosts were 52 for no loss after just three overs.
Chris Morris then accounted for Mayank Agarwal against the run of play. Trent Boult then sent back Rahul much to the relief of the Daredevils. But the right-handed batsman had already done enough damage by scoring 51 off just 16 balls.
Rahul’s departure helped Delhi slow things down. Yuvraj Singh failed to get going, scoring 12 of 22. However, Karun Nair made sure that Delhi does not get back in the game and was well supported by David Miller. Nair was going for the big shots while Miller looked more than happy to play the second fiddle.
By the time the 15th over ended, the scoreboard was reading 132 for 3. Two balls later, Nair reached his fifty off 31 balls with a six. A couple of balls later, Nair perished but it did not let Delhi claw their way back. Miller and Marcus Stoinis then took their team home with 7 balls remaining.
Earlier in the game , Gautam Gambhir celebrated his return to the Delhi Daredevils with a fine fifty. The skipper scored 55 to help his side post a competitive 166 for 7 in the allotted 20 overs. The Daredevils were off to a shaky start as Mujeeb Ur Rahman dismissed the dangerous Colin Munro for just 4.
Gambhir and Shreyas Iyer then added 42 runs before Axar Patel struck to remove the latter. Rishabh Pant then gave Delhi’s innings the much-needed impetus by scoring 28 off 13 balls. Towards the end, Chris Morris and Dan Christian shared 41 runs for the seventh wicket to help Delhi finish on a bright note.
Here is how Twitter reacted to the game:
Wow, that is some start from KL Rahul, making a statement about where he should bat!
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 8, 2018
Fastest ever half century in IPL history by KL Rahul
0 2 0 6 4 4 6 4 1 4 6 6 4 4 4
51 runs in 14 balls
— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) April 8, 2018
It's a shame that DD repeat their mistakes. 11 years, yet same errors.
— Nikhil ? (@CricCrazyNIKS) April 8, 2018
Same old Delhi Daredevils. Same old. Same old…
— Bharath Ramaraj (@Fancricket12) April 8, 2018
KL Rahul is showing what kind of batsman he is when selfish Kohli isn't leading him.
— EngiNerd. (@mainbhiengineer) April 8, 2018
KL Rahul scores the fastest ever fifty in the history of #IPL for @lionsdenkxip!
RCB right now – pic.twitter.com/HnJZwpFoai
— Nikhil ? (@CricCrazyNIKS) April 8, 2018
A reminder that KL Rahul is not a regular in the Indian limited overs teams.
— Alagappan Vijayakumar (@IndianMourinho) April 8, 2018
KL Rahul is the first batsman to reach his fifty within first 3 overs of the inns in T20s.
He completed it in the 5th ball of 3rd over. #KXIPvDD #IPL2018
— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) April 8, 2018
Yuvraj Singh successfully taken the revenge from Preity Zinta for not retaining him in 2011.#KXIPvDD
— sunil the cricketer (@1sInto2s) April 8, 2018
Yuvraj is behaving like a poor North Indian state 12*(20), being subsidized by the great form of South Indian players like KL Rahul & Karun Nair.
— Gabbbar (@GabbbarSingh) 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
Mind boggling stuff that was from KL Rahul. Has set his team up, done his job ???
— Gaurav Kapur (@gauravkapur) April 8, 2018
Two wickets and then a direct hit to get rid of Gambhir – Mujeeb is making an impact and how
— Nikhil ? (@CricCrazyNIKS) April 8, 2018
What a good return to DD for Gambhir, 50 and a run out to top it. #KXIPvDD
— Gaurav Sethi (@BoredCricket) April 8, 2018
Gautam Gambhir batting like a man on a mission…#IPL
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) April 8, 2018
Gambhir has already scored more runs than Dhoni going to score in whole ipl
— EngiNerd. (@mainbhiengineer) April 8, 2018
Ravichandran Kumble!
— Nikhil ? (@CricCrazyNIKS) April 8, 2018
Shankar is suited for fc/Test cricket. This is not the format for him.
— Bharath Ramaraj (@Fancricket12) April 8, 2018
Ashwin doing leg spin bowling just to give tough competition to Kuldeep & Chahal. Shameless.
— sunil the cricketer (@1sInto2s) April 8, 2018
R Ashwin's leggie action is right out of the Anil Kumble bowling books eh?#IPL2018 #DDvKXIP
— Suneer (@suneerchowdhary) April 8, 2018
gambhir is thrashing the bowlers as if they all had kashmiri pulao for lunch. #KXIPvDD
— Rofl Gandhi 2.0 ? (@RoflGandhi_) April 8, 2018
Gambhir is one of the finest players of spin I have seen though.
— Bharath Ramaraj (@Fancricket12) April 8, 2018
Gayle was never picked to be a part of the 11, but to party hard with Yuvraj Singh. He won't disappoint though #KXIPvDD
— cric_bakchod (@Cric_bakchod) April 8, 2018