Rahul sends winless MI to eighth IPL loss

FE Team | Published: April 25, 2022 22:15:36

KL Rahul repeated his feat from eight days ago against Mumbai Indians, with another identical century (103* off 63) to push his side to 168 for 6, after which his bowlers did a fine job of keeping MI's potent batting unit on a leash to eventually secure a 36-run victory. With that, MI suffered their eighth-successive defeat of the season, according to Cricbuzz.
The Lucknow captain struggled to get going at the start, but he's also the reason his side got to a respectable total in the end. His first 29 runs came off 30 deliveries, as MI broke the sequence of poor bowling PowerPlays.
LSG had 32/1 in 6 overs, which only stretched to 55 for 1 in 9 overs as Rahul and Manish Pandey were slow at the start of the rebuild following Quinton de Kock's exit in the fourth over.
The transformation from Rahul came in the second half, and he took complete charge in the final five as he went from 67 off 46 after 15 overs to 103 off 62 at the close of the innings.
A mini-carnage to help LSG shift out of first gear. It truly began from the last ball of that ninth over, and stretched until the end of the 13th as the two batters went after Riley Meredith and Rahul brought up his half-century. LSG went from 55 in 9 overs to 108 in 14 overs, albeit with the dismissal of Pandey, Marcus Stoinis and Krunal Pandya.
The quick wickets threatened to derail LSG but a determined Rahul pushed them ahead. He went after Jaydev Unadkat in the 18th over with a hattrick of fours and brought up his second century of the season - and this too against the same opposition - with a six on the first ball of the final over. LSG smashed 52 off the final five overs to reach 168 for 6.
MI's most expensive recruit from the mega auction continued to grapple with a slump in batting form, with the worst of his recent outings coming on Sunday. Even as Rohit Sharma began briskly, Kishan was overtly circumspect and just couldn't break the shackles all through the PowerPlay. MI reached 43 for 0 in 6 overs, but Kishan had 6 off 17.
In the eighth over, Ravi Bishnoi put him out of his misery by dismissing him, but in a freakish manner as an inside edge from a hard swipe bounced up off Quinton de Kock's boot behind the stumps and went to Jason Holder's hands at first slip. With that, his innings folded on 8 off 20 balls.