New Delhi [India], April 25 : KL Rahul's mammoth knock of unbeaten 152 went in vain as Punjab Kings pulled off the biggest run-chase in IPL history to remain unbeaten in the competition. DC suffered a six-wicket defeat despite setting a 265-run target for the PBKS at Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday.
Rahul made 152 not out off 67 balls, which is the highest individual score by an Indian in IPL. He overtook Abhishek Sharma's score of 141, which he made last year against the Punjab Kings.
Rahul also became the third batter to cross the 150-run mark in IPL after RCB's Chris Gayle (175 not out off 66 balls against Pune Warriors India in 2013) and KKR's Brendon McCullum (158 not out off 73 balls against RCB in 2008).
Rahul was named Player of the Match for his big knock, and he talked about the work that he's been putting in for a long time behind the scenes.
Speaking about his knock, KL said, "I was very pleased, very happy at the end of the first 20 overs. It's something that I've been working on for a very long time behind the scenes. Just said this last year as well. I spent a lot of time with Abhishek Nayar. We talked a lot about how I can improve and especially in the white ball game, also red ball game. But for now, it was about doing well in the IPL and where I was at and what I needed to do to get better and catch up with the modern demands of T20 cricket. So I'm really happy to see that I could put that into work and score runs for my team and get them to what I thought was a winning total."
Coming to the match, after DC opted to bat first, an entertaining 220-run second-wicket stand between KL Rahul (152* in 67 balls, with 16 fours and nine sixes) and Nitish Rana (91* in 44 balls, with 11 fours and four sixes) took DC to 264/2.
Reacting to the areas where he has worked, the veteran batter said, "Just to step back a little bit and see where T20 games have gone and what the demand of T20 cricket is in today's day and age. And watching the T20 World Cup, watching some of the young guys coming in and smashing from ball one, and I've spoken about six hitting, and that's something that I had to really work on and give myself that sort of freedom to go out there and take on the bowling from maybe ball one, ball two."
"There was a time where T20 game was slightly different, where I, as an opener, could take some time and then accelerate. I had enough confidence in my ability that I could always convert those starts and make it a big knock at the end, but today's demand is that the first six overs are the most important thing in the power play, to get as many runs as you can and put the bowling under pressure. So that's something that I had to sit back and see where I was at and what I needed to do to get better. But obviously, I stuck to being true to my game, which is to play cricket shots, but also find a way to be aggressive and play proper shots," he added.
PBKS did not put their weapons down while chasing a big target as Priyansh Arya (43 in 17 balls, with two fours and five sixes) and Prabhsimran (76 in 26 balls, with nine fours and five sixes) shaved off 116 runs in the powerplay. Later, Shreyas Iyer (71* in 36 balls, with three fours and seven sixes) put partnerships with Nehal Wadhera (25) and Shashank Singh (19*) to complete the chase in 18.5 overs with six wickets left.
With this win, PBKS stand unbeaten with six wins and a no result, giving them 13 points. DC is in sixth place, with three wins and four losses, giving them six points. PBKS broke their record of chasing down 262 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the 2024 season.
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