Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
It was the last league game for Punjab Kings in IPL 2021 on Thursday and with chances to qualify for play-offs almost done and dusted, they came to the match against Chennai Super Kings with a different attitude. The plan was to try and force a big win in order to improve their net run rate and they needed to play an aggressive and fearless brand of cricket. And guess what, this is exactly what they did in Dubai!
It all started with the PBKS bowlers doing a brilliant job in first half of the match to restrict CSK to 134/6 in 20 overs. The onus was now on the batsmen to hunt down the target as early as possible and this is when their skipper KL Rahul decided to lead from the front like a boss.
KL Rahul hits 98* off 42 balls
In order to chase the target quickly, the 29-year-old showed some sheer aggression as he smashed the CSK bowlers all around the park. KL Rahul hit 8 sixes and 7 boundaries in his unbeaten knock of 98 runs to take his side over the line in only 13 overs.
With this knock, Rahul became the first player to cross the 600-run mark this season as he reclaimed the orange cap which was taken by Faf du Plessis in first innings.
Fans hail the Punjab Kings skipper
The netizens flooded the internet with posts around KL Rahul as they hailed the PBKS skipper for his heroic knock. While fans congratulated the 29-year-old in their own unique ways, one Twitter user went on to make a special request to team owner Preity Zinta as he asked her, "Don’t let this Rahul go away. Zara apne Veer ko sambhal lena."