Rahul struck 71 off 36 deliveries to lay the platform for Kings XI Punjab’s six-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in their last group tie. (Express photo by Kamleshwar Singh)Imperious Rahul
When on song, few batsmen can be as aesthetically pleasing as KL Rahul, even in the helter-skelter world of IPL, even though he’s stroking all those runs at a strike rate of 200. Sample his six over extra cover off Harbhajan Singh—he just backed away to manufacture room and lofted him a few rows back with nothing more than an extension of his arms. There was not a hint of power, but just brutal timing.
The next ball, he shuffled across and laced him over long-on—again it’s the effortlessness that melts your eyes than the heft on the shot. It was his third six in only eight balls—he had opened his account with a monstrous one off Deepak Chahar over mid-wicket—and gave Kings XI Punjab the required momentum to kickstart a heady chase of 171, against the wily retinue of Chennai Super Kings’ spinners.
Generally, Rahul likes to drop anchor (relatively) after his initial burst and let Chris Gayle do all the hitting. But here, he took it on himself to tear into CSK bowlers, and did it with some aplomb. Chahar, CSK’s stifler-in-chief, was caressed for a brace of leg-side boundaries, the first a straightforward flick, and the next a finer glance. He didn’t stop there either, but only warmed up for a bigger assault, against Harbhajan, who eventually ended up with his most hideous figures of the season (3/57).
KL Rahul scored a blistering knock against CSK in their 6-wicket win. (Source: AP)He began with a hat-trick of crisp fours, the first through covers, the next bisected deep midwicket and backward square leg with needle-eye precision and the third perhaps the only (relatively) sturdy stroke of the day, a swipe through long-on. But if Harbhajan thought Rahul would stop, he didn’t. The fourth ball was carved inside-out over cover for a six before he completed his half-century with a languorous six over the bowler’s head. All this while, Gayle was just getting his eye in, with four off five balls. The role-swap continued as Rahul accounted for as many as 71 off their 108-run stand. Harbhajan exacted revenge—nailing them off successive deliveries—but by then the match had drifted from the hands of the greatest comeback heroes of the league.
Du Plessis’s futile masterpiece
It’s a mystery why Faf du Plessis is a grossly underestimated T20 batsman. Maybe, it’s the impression his grafting style in ODIs and Tests gives the audience. Maybe, it’s because he doesn’t reel out spectacular shots. But it’s high time his value got appreciated, for not only has he been making all those runs (314 at 39.25) at a fair clip of 121, but he has been getting a lot of valuable runs, operating as a safety valve amidst stroke-makers. On Sunday, he demonstrated the brutal side of his batting, getting those 96 off 55 balls, denied a century by a terrific Sam Curran yorker.
Brief Scores: CSK 170/5 (Du Plessis 96, Raina 53, Curran 3-35) lost to KXIP 173/4 (Rahul 71, Pooran 36*, Harbhajan 3-57) by 6 wickets.
