Rahul credits Gayle for his record-breaking fifty

KXIP opener KL Rahul slammed the fastest fifty in IPL history as he led his side to victory against Delhi Daredevils in Mohali on Sunday. The 25-year-old took just 14 deliveries to complete 50 runs.

KXIP opener KL Rahul slammed the fastest fifty in IPL history as he led his side to victory against Delhi Daredevils in Mohali on Sunday. The 25-year-old took just 14 deliveries to complete 50 runs.

Rahul became the first batsman ever to score a half-century in the 3 overs of the innings. He blasted six boundaries and four sixes as he pushed the opposition on to the back-foot at the very beginning.

Rahul credited his stupendous knock to none other than the man of who has the fastest IPL fifty to his name – Chris Gayle.

“I have realized over the years playing with Gayle (while being part of the RCB squad), and I have spoken to him over the last couple of years about how to pace the innings and he always keep telling about getting into good positions and then body reacts. That’s all I was trying to do and I’m really happy that it came off today.”

“I didn’t plan to play this innings that way. I just went there, I wanted to play a couple of balls in. But the first ball (Trent) Boult bowled, he tried to swing it in, but there was no swing so I knew that the ball was going to come straight and I just wanted to take him on straight away. I knew that once the ball gets older it is going to get harder for the batsmen batting down the order. So my plan was to make sure that the new ball goes for a lot of runs so that the batsmen batting after me will find it easier.”

Kings XI Punjab will face Royal Challengers Bangalore in their second encounter in Bengaluru and Rahul said it will be an emotional affair to return back home and play against his former team.

“Going back home feels good … feels a bit emotional to be playing against RCB. But at the end of the day, it is a game, we want to go there and play our best cricket and hopefully end up on the winning side again.”