Rahul Hits Highest-Ever Score As an Indian in IPL History

Captain KL Rahul recorded the highest score ever by an Indian batsman in IPL history as he took Kings XI Punjab to a comfortable victory over Virat Kohli, the Royal Challengers of Bangalore.

Rahul, in his second outing as a skipper, fell twice to Kohli before breaking an undefeated 132 off only 69 deliveries — the first century of the 2020 season — to help Punjab win a huge 206 for three and a 97-run, reports AFP.

India 's Captain Kohli had a night to forget when he dropped Rahul on the 83rd and again on the 89th in the Dubai match.

Rahul also got the highest score ever by the captain in the IPL, shattering Sachin Tendulkar 's record to become the fastest Indian on 2,000 IPL runs, achieving a feat in 60 innings compared to the legendary 63 innings.

“It was good to be in the middle and see the team through whatever we’d planned before the game,” Rahul said.

“I think it’s as complete a team performance as it can get, really happy.”

Kohli acknowledged that he did not have the “best day of the office”.

“Maybe if we restricted them to under 180, we wouldn’t have been under pressure… from ball one to chase close to 210,” he said.

“So we know exactly where we went wrong and it’s time to put my hand up and say a couple of important chances went down.”

After the sudden death of Australian batsman and cricket analyst Dean Jones, who had been covering the Indian Premier League from Mumbai, the game took a dark note from a heart attack.

Players from both teams wore black bracelets to honor Jones, and in the pre-match broadcast, fellow analyst and Australian Brett Lee hailed the 59-year-old as a "absolute legend."

The much-delayed IPL, which was originally scheduled to start in March, moved out of India due to the coronavirus pandemic and is being played behind closed doors.