IPL 2022: 3 best fifties by KL Rahul in IPL
The Lucknow Super Giants are scheduled to take on the Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2022 at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Monday. They have lost and won one game each in their first two encounters under skipper KL Rahul.
Rahul has prior experience of captaining IPL teams and will look to get his new team through to the knockout stages this year. The Karnataka batter has grown in stature as a player in the shortest format, with his batting leading the charge on several occasions.
While Rahul has been in contention for the IPL Orange Cap in almost every edition, he has a huge milestone coming up in this one. The Lucknow-based team skipper is one fifty short of reaching 50 half-centuries in T20 cricket.
While we hope he gets to the landmark in tonight's game, let's take a look at three of his best half-centuries in the IPL so far.
#1 51(16) - PBKS vs DC in IPL 2018
The fastest fifty in the IPL came from the bat of the then Punjab Kings skipper Lokesh Rahul in 2018 against the Delhi Capitals. The Capitals were put to bat and posted 166 runs on the board courtesy of a half-century from Gautam Gambhir.
When Punjab Kings came out in the second innings, KL Rahul started going after DC right off the bat. Mayank Agarwal was the first wicket after a fifty-run partnership between the two. But soon after, Rahul broke the record for the fastest fifty in the IPL. He scored a fifty in 14 deliveries, including six fours and four sixes.
He got out at 51(16) but another half-century by Karun Nair secured Punjab's win by six wickets. Rahul broke the joint-record of Sunil Narine and Yusuf Pathan who had scored fifties in 15 balls.
#2 95*(70) - PBKS vs RR in IPL 2018
The 40th match of IPL 2018 between the Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals turned out to be an exciting contest. RR had decided to bat first and the Kings achieved an early breakthrough with the wicket of Ajinkya Rahane.
But the dangerous Jos Butler scored 82 off just 58 deliveries, helping the Royals close at 158/8. With a target of 159 in mind, Rahul walked in to open the account for PBKS.
Unfortunately for the Kings, their top-order crumbled rather easily with the score at 19/3 and Rahul had to drop anchor. He continued a valiant fight from one end but with no support from anywhere else, PBKS lost the match by 15 runs.
Rahul's valiant 95* of 70 deliveries showed his class. He ended that season with 659 runs in 14 innings.
Check out the IPL purple cap 2022 here.
#3 98*(42) - PBKS vs CSK in IPL 2021
In IPL 2021 Rahul finished third in contention for the Orange Cup with 626 runs in 13 innings. In the UAE leg of IPL 2021, the 53rd game was held between PBKS and defending champions Chennai Super Kings. CSK were put to bat and with Faf Du Plesis's 76(55) pushed the scorecard to 134/6.
Mayank Agarawal and skipper Rahul gave the team a quick start but the former perished soon after. The wickets started to tumble but it was Rahul, once again, who played anchor.
His unbeaten 98 off just 43 deliveries was embedded with seven fours and eight sixes. Punjab crossed the target with six wickets and seven overs in hand.