Superstar India opener KL Rahul continues to break and create records with the bat. Appointed as the captain of the new franchise Lucknow Super Giants, Rahul hit his first fifty of IPL 2022 on Monday against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
KL Rahul scored 68 runs off 50 balls after LSG had lost three early wickets and helped his side to a total of 169 which they managed to successfully defend by 12 runs. Rahul held the innings together as the likes of Deepak Hooda and Ayush Badoni scored freely.
With this fifty, KL Rahul became India’s joint fifth-highest batter to hit half-centuries in T20 cricket. KL Rahul now has 53 half-centuries in 174 matches, the same number as Gautam Gambhir did in his career of 251 T20s. Rahul has hit 16 fifties for India in T20Is while others came for his different teams.
These are the several different teams he has played for in T20 cricket: India, Karnataka, Kings XI Punjab, Lucknow Super Giants, Punjab Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad.
KL Rahul averages close to 45 with a strike rate nearing 135 in T20 cricket; over the past few years, especially for Punjab Kings, his former IPL franchise, KL Rahul had adopted that anchor role where he played risk-free cricket and willed to bat through the innings, which is the main reason for the dip in his strike rate.
Among Indians, former India and RCB skipper, Virat Kohli leads the tally of most T20 fifties with 81 half-centuries in 328 matches, followed by Rohit Sharma who has 75 fifty-plus scores in 372 T20s. Next is Shikhar Dhawan who has hit 65 T20 half-centuries in 306 games, followed by Suresh Raina with 57 scores of fifty or more in 336 matches.
Speaking about the Lucknow-Hyderabad game, Rahul’s fifty ensured that LSG didn’t lose their way and put up a par total that their strong bowling line-up was ale to defend. Avesh Khan snapped up four wickets while Jason Holder took three scalps and calmly closed out the game with a terrific last over. With 4 points in 3 matches, KL Rahul’s side now sits at the fifth spot.
