Images from Thursday's IPL match between Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers Bangalore, in Dubai.
Skipper Lokesh Rahul hit the first hundred of IPL-13 as Kings XI Punjab amassed 206 for 3 against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Thursday's match in Dubai.
His unbeaten 132 off 69 balls was studded with 7 sixes and 14 fours.
It was Rahul on the rampage all the way after Kings XI Punjab were put in to bat. Last season he got a hundred against Mumbai Indians. On Thursday, it was the Royal Challengers who were at the receiving end.
Dropped twice by Royal Challengers skipper Virat Kohli in the death overs, he finished off in style, hammering Dale Steyn for 26 runs in the penultimate over and Shivam Dube for 23 in the next, to register the highest score by an Indian in IPL history.
Playing his 60th innings, he also became the fastest Indian to aggregate 2000 IPL runs.
The stylish batsman clipped away a full length delivery to fine leg for four to break the record held by Sachin Tendulkar, who attained the milestone in 63 matches.
Rahul was involved in two fifty-run partnerships, first with with fellow-opener Mayank Agarwal (26 off 20 balls) and then Nicholas Pooran (17 off 18).
Shivam Dube was the pick of the Royal Challengers' bowlers with figures of 2 for 33 from three overs.
Opening the batting with Rahul, Agarwal looked dangerous and shared a 57-run stand with his captain. However, with the introduction of spin into the attack in the seventh over, Yuzvendra Chahal (1/25) struck with his last delivery of the over, cleaning up Agarwal with a delightful googly.
Pooran and Glenn Maxwell (5) failed to make an impact as Dube accounted for the duo.
Karun Nair pitched in with an eight-ball 15.
The pace troika of Umesh Yadav (0/35), Dale Steyn (0/57) and Navdeep Saini (0/37) had a torrid time as the Kings skipper was on fire in his second game as captain.
The players wore black armbands to honour Australian cricketer-turned-commentator Dean Jones, who died in Mumbai due to a cardiac arrest on Thursday.