KL Rahul played a match-winning knock against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday (April 10). He scored an unbeaten 93 to help Delhi Capitals chase down 164 runs with more than two overs and six wickets in hand. However, more than anything, his celebration went viral.
KL Rahul returned to his home ground, Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, in style on Thursday (April 10) with a special knock against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) season. He batted superbly to remain unbeaten on 93, but his celebration after hitting the winning runs went showed that he desperately wanted to make a statement in front of his home fans.
After smashing the winning shot, Rahul made a circle with his bat and gestured that he belongs to this venue, saying, “This is fu**ing my ground.” It was indeed a brilliant innings from Rahul who helped Delhi Capitals recover from a precarious position of 58/4, with Tristan Stubbs playing a supporting role as well.
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He came out to bat with DC’s score reading 10/2 in the third over and soon it became 30/3 with Abishek Porel also returning back to the hut. However, after getting his eyes in, the former RCB batter played eye-catching strokes, ensuring he took his team over the line.
This is Rahul’s second consecutive half-century, this time batting at number four. Against Chennai Super Kings, he had opened the innings in the absence of Faf du Plessis. “This is my ground, this is my home. I know this better than anybody else. Enjoyed playing here,” Rahul said after the match, explaining his celebration. He also went on to add that he figured out the behaviour of the pitch while wicketkeeping and paced his innings accordingly while also admitting that he was lucky to be dropped earlier.
“What helped me was being behind the stumps for 20 overs, just watching how it played. From wicketkeeping, I figured that the ball sat in the wicket a little bit but it was consistent throughout – it wasn’t two-paced, it was one paced throughout. I knew what my shots are. Just wanted to get off to a good start, be aggressive initially and assess it from there. If I was trying to hit a big six, I knew what pockets to target. Wicketkeeping gave me a feeler for how the other batters played and where they were dismissed. Got lucky with the dropped catch,” Rahul added.
