Opening the innings, Rahul punished RCB bowlers to submission to help KXIP to a disheartening 206 for three before the bowling attack made a disciplined effort to group. virat Kohli109 side with three overs to spare.
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The KXIP patron, who was knocked down by Kohli late in innings, scored an undefeated 132 of 69 balls intertwined with 14 limits and seven sixes.
With his spectacular blow, Rahul surpassed Rishabh Pant (128 in 2018) to post the highest individual score by an Indian and a captain in IPL history.
It was a pretty normal performance for RCB after the win against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their first tournament. For KXIP, the victory came after a super loss against Delhi Capitals.
RCB was in all sorts of trouble from the beginning of the chase with Devdutt Padikkal (1) and Josh Philippe (0) returning to digging in the first two overs.
After dropping two catches, Kohli, arguably one of the best when it comes to running chase, missed the bat while driving just a five-ball run before being caught in a Sheldon Cottrell delivery.
Starter Aaron Finch (20) was joined in the middle by AB de Villiers (28). The duo looked dangerous, milking deliveries whenever possible. The two added 49 runs before young Ravi Bishnoi broke through the stands by ditching the Australian captain from limited overs.
Bishnoi (3/32) and Murugan Ashwin (3/21) fired Finch and de Villiers in quick succession with RCB reeling at 57-for-five. Washington Sundar was RCB’s top scorer, with 30 of 27 deliveries.
There are no prizes for guessing who our man of the match is for match 6 of # Dream11IPL. @ Klrahul11 #KXIPvRCB https://t.co/ugxGioQNPV
– IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) 1600969704000
Ashwin was the bowlers’ choice for KXIP, choosing three fields that gave away 21 runs. Bishnoi also claimed three plots and was impressive once again. Cottrell (2/17), Mohammed Shami (1/14) and Glenn Maxwell (1/10) all cast economic spells.
Previously, Rahul also became the fastest Indian to reach 2,000 IPL runs, reaching the milestone in his 60 innings. The stylish hitter slashed a full delivery to the fine leg for four to break the record of Sachin Tendulkar, who reached the milestone in 63 games.
Opening the batting with Rahul, Mayank Agarwal (26) looked dangerous and shared a 57-run position with his captain. However, with the introduction of the attack twist in the seventh over, Yuzvendra Chahal (1/25) struck with the last ball, cleaning Agarwal (26) with a delicious googly.
Nicholas Pooran (17) and Glenn Maxwell (5) once again failed to make an impact as Shivam Dube (2/33) represented the duo. Karun Nair shot with an eight-ball 15.
The rhythm troika of Umesh Yadav (0/35), Dale Steyn (0/57) and Navdeep Saini (0/37) had a torrid moment as the KXIP pattern was on fire in his second game as captain.
All the players wore black armbands in honor of Australian cricketer-turned-commentator Dean Jones, who died in Mumbai due to cardiac arrest on Thursday.
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