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IPL 2020: Rahul's blazing ton singes Royal Challengers Bangalore

Last Updated 22 October 2020, 08:07 IST

On a day when the news of Dean Jones’ passing came as an indelicate reminder of human fragility, KL Rahul painted a fitting tribute to the pioneer of modern-day batting with a knock so domineering it would have made the late great proud.

Rahul, the Punjab skipper, scalded Royal Challengers Bangalore’s indisciplined bowlers and made their inexplicably butter-fingered skipper Virat Kohli pay with an unbeaten 132 from 69 deliveries, including seven sixes and 14 fours.

The opener’s blazing knock, which happens to be the highest by an Indian and the best by a skipper in the Indian Premier League’s history, muscled Punjab to 206 for 3 in 20 overs at the Dubai International Cricket stadium on Thursday.

RCB responded with 109 all out in 17 overs, a 97-run loss.

Kohli, who dropped Rahul - rank sitters - on 83 and 89, would have wanted to make amends, storming out of the dugout after RCB lost two wickets in Devdutt Padikkal and Josh Philippe.

The ploy to demote himself and AB de Villiers down the order had worked in the opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad, but it failed on the day. And just like he had perished against SRH, he chose to pull a short and wide delivery from Sheldon Cottrell into Ravi Bishnoi’s hands at mid-on. He was eyeing mid-wicket when the third-man region was vacant.

Resigned to watch the remainder of the game with his fingers at the temples, the optimist in him would have expected a miracle. De Villiers and Aaron Finch (20) were beginning to show some of their marquee value, but Bishnoi (3/32) ended the Australian’s stay and M Ashwin (3/21) nipped de Villiers’ (28) promise.

Thereon, it was about surviving 70 balls with five wickets to spare, winning wasn’t even on the radar.

A far cry from how hopeful the day seemed when Kohli won the toss and elected to field first.

The logic was to avoid bowling when the dew begins to lace the ball. Little could the skipper predict that his bowlers would be so demoralising that it would bring back memories of every year they have failed as a bowling unit. RCB’s top three went for 129 runs in 11 overs with Dale Steyn conceding a whopping 57 runs from his four.

Still, it takes a different calibre of batsman to turn an opponent’s failings into a proper feast. Oh, and Rahul devoured.

What started as a string of gorgeous flicks and jaw-dropping cover drives, turned into open-stanced slaps and carvings over backward point. In fact, the only time Rahul was cautious was when Yuzvendra Chahal (1/25) was going through his spell. Agarwal’s (26) dismissal to a stunning googly could have played a part.

But all else were at his mercy, including the record for the fastest to 2000 runs in IPL.

Meanwhile, Three out of the five Karnataka players in Punjab added to 173 runs.

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(Published 24 September 2020, 18:08 IST)

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