IPL 2018: KL Rahul Hits Fastest IPL Fifty For Kings XI Punjab Against Delhi Daredevils

Kings XI Punjab opener KL Rahul scripted history on Sunday after scoring the fastest fifty in 14 balls in the Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Delhi Daredevils. With this feat, Rahul surpassed Sunil Narine and Yusuf Pathan's record. Both Narine and Pathan hit their respective fifties in 15 balls each. Chasing the target of 167 set by Delhi Daredevils, Rahul made his presence felt with the bat right from the outset. He hammered Delhi pacer Trent Boult for a six and successive boundaries in his first over. Rahul's intentions were clear as he hammered both Mohammed Shami and Amit Mishra all over the park. It appeared Rahul was in a rush to reach the target as Punjab raced to 51 runs in only three overs. Rahul did the bulk of the scoring for the Punjab side. He eventually departed in the fifth over for 51 runs after Mohammed Shami took a good catch off Trent Boult's delivery.

Earlier, Delhi Daredevils ended their innings with 166 runs on the board with the loss of 7 wickets and they would have hoped to have got to 200. They slowed down towards the end after the fall of skipper Gautam Gambhir. But in their defence, the average first innings score in Mohali is 163. Debutant Mujeed Zadran performed really well and R Ashwin and Mohit Sharma chipped in as well. A fiery Gambhir fifty and a Pant cameo helped the visitors up the ante but some excellent death bowling from the hosts ensured that only 43 came off the last 5. Wickets kept falling and that final flourish never came. Mujeeb was a star on his IPL debut. Ashwin's captaincy debut went well too.