It was a bad day for Delhities Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir as they lost their first match in VIVO IPL 2018 on Sunday as the eleventh season of Indian premier league saw the two batsmen smashing fastest half-century of the tournament.
Delhi Daredevils skipper Gautam Gambhir was left devasted after Kings XI Punjab opening batsman KL Rahul created history in T20 cricket and scored the fastest half-century of the cash-rich tournament.
Chasing 167, the 25-year-old batsman smashed 6 boundaries and 4 sixes and scored 50 of just 14 balls to beat Delhi Daredevils by 6 wickets with 7 balls to spare.
Moreover, the Karnataka batsman was on full assault as the opposition bowlers looked miserable. In the first over, Rahul smashed 16 runs against Trent Boult and 12 runs of the 2nd over against Mohammed Shami while Amit Mishra was punished for 24 runs as Rahul became the only cricketer to score the half-century of just 3 overs.
KL Rahul scored the fastest ever 50 in the history of IPL of just 14 balls and became the first player to score an individual 50 in the first 3 overs of a T-20 innings! #KXIPvDD pic.twitter.com/3RzgeDc1PL
— Cricket Talkies (@CricketTalkies) April 8, 2018
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Meanwhile, the other one was the West-Indies off-spinner Sunil Narine who was named the Player of the Match after his destructive half-century against RCB.
Sunil Narine is the first player to score two fifties in 17 balls or fewer in the IPL https://t.co/G9IWQfzRMD pic.twitter.com/GS2oVopBLm
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) April 8, 2018
Playing at Eden Gardens, Virat Kohli’s men looked in Red hot form before posting 7/176 runs on the scoreboard but KKR’s surprise opener Sunil Narine spoiled the party for RCB as he kept on knocking the ball out of the park to score the fastest half-century of the tournament.
The left-handed batsman smashed 4 boundaries and 5 sixes to score his second fastest fifty of the tournament in just 17 balls.