Cricadium Staff 
Kings XI Punjab, at their designated home venue of the Holkar Stadium, Indore, hosted Rajasthan Royals in the 38th match of IPL 2018. While KXIP looked to strengthen their position in the top 4, RR wished to bring their campaign back on track after a string of defeats. As it turned out, the game proved to a close one and KL Rahul snatched the victory away from the visitors.
RR batted first after losing the toss and suffered a blow in the very first over as D’Arcy Short departed for 2. Ajinkya Rahane too fell soon for 5, 3 overs later. Jos Buttler, who opened the innings, added 49 runs alongside Sanju Samson before the latter got out in the 11th over.
Buttler was the only one who looked at ease, otherwise, the RR batsmen struggled for timing. The wicketkeeper-batsman notched up his half-century while Ben Stokes didn’t last long. When Buttler was dismissed for 51 in the 15th over, the batting line-up was struck with a collapse and 4 more wickets fell at the death as the side was restricted to 152/9.
In reply, KXIP lost Chris Gayle early for just 9. To make the matters worse, Mayank Agarwal fell for 2, an over later. KL Rahul held the flag high and he found an able support in Karun Nair. Even though the scoring rate wasn’t too high yet the duo kept the side in the hunt.
Nair got out in the 11th over and he was followed back to the pavilion soon by Axar Patel. The hosts needed 51 runs from the last 5 overs and that’s when KL Rahul took the matters into his own hands. He went absolutely berserk and smashed the bowlers all over the park. Due to his flamboyance, KXIP won the game having 8 balls in hand.
Match Summary
Kings XI Punjab won the toss and opted to bowl first
Rajasthan Royals: 152/9 in 20 overs
Jos Buttler 51 (39), Sanju Samson 28 (23)
Mujeeb Ur Rahman 27/3 (4), Andrew Tye 24/2 (4)
Kings XI Punjab: 155/4 in 18.4 overs
KL Rahul 54 (35), Karun Nair 31 (23)
Krishnappa Gowtham 18/1 (3), Anureet Singh 20/1 (2)
Kings XI Punjab won by 6 wickets
Player of the Match: Mujeeb Ur Rahman
Here’s how Twitter reacted to the masterclass of KL Rahul
Always rate finishing games as a very high quality in batsman and KL Rahul did it so brilliantly today. Good performance by the boys and really well led by Ashwin #KXIPvRR
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) May 6, 2018
Technical competence along with the maturity to finish the game…almost singlehandedly. K L Rahul is a special talent who’s coming to his own this year. #KXIPvRR #IPL
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) May 6, 2018
Very impressive run chase by Kings 11 Punjab. KL Rahul was 48 of 43 and just like what top batsmen do,was able to accelerate quickly and scored 36 of his next 11. The running between the wickets,the twos was a standout feature as well #KXIPvRR
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) May 6, 2018
https://twitter.com/BhaavnaArora/status/993190596947963905
Now this is how the best finish matches. This, from KL Rahul was an innings of the very highest class.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) May 6, 2018
RCB did not retain KL Rahul. A top-rated Indian batsman… who is now in the form of his limited-overs' career… Staggering! #IPL2018
— Chetan Narula (@chetannarula) May 6, 2018
https://twitter.com/lionsdenkxip/status/993193984880033792
https://twitter.com/lionsdenkxip/status/993193094194479104
The amount of faith shown in Darcy makes for interesting reading…I strongly feel that if they’d shown the same faith in Klassen, he would’ve given better results. #KXIPvRR #IPL
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) May 6, 2018
https://twitter.com/SirJadeja/status/993153932074471424
Touch of Class, KL Rahul finishes things off. The crowd chanting his name was the best part of it. Brilliant innings @klrahul11 #KXIPvRR
— Sanath (@dude__ffs) May 6, 2018
A great thing for KL Rahul is that at Punjab he is now the star attraction with Gayle whereas at RCB he was always in the shadow of Virat and AB #KXIP
— Pratik (@Pratik_J97) May 6, 2018
The batsman I have enjoyed watching the most in this IPL is neither Gayle and Russell, nor ABD and Pant.. It is KL RAHUL.. Oozes class & fluidity! Gallops at a great strike-rate without taking too much risk. MUST PLAY ALL 3 FORMATS FOR INDIA. @klrahul11 @lionsdenkxip #KXIPvRR
— Navneet Mundhra (@navneet_mundhra) May 6, 2018
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