Watch | KL Rahul scores the fastest IPL fifty

The Indian Premier League (IPL) was off to a thrilling start after Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) played a nail-biting first game as CSK scampered through to a thrilling one-wicket win. 

In the second game of the season, Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and Delhi Daredevils (DD) squared off against each other at Mohali. On his captaincy debut, Ravichandran Ashwin won the toss and asked DD to bat first. They lost Colin Munro in the third over of the innings, but Gautam Gambhir stabilized the innings with a fine 55. Rishabh Pant’s cameo (13-ball 28) provided impetus in the middle-overs but some good death bowling from KXIP bowlers (Mohit Sharma and Andrew Tye) restricted DD to 166. 

The visitors could only score 43 runs in their last 5 overs but they did manage to get an over-the-average first innings score of 163. Mohit Sharma and the youngest IPL debutant, Mujeeb ur Rahman took 2 wickets apiece while Ashwin and Axar Patel took one wicket each. 

With plenty of opening options available, KXIP opted to go for KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal at the top. Rahul took strike and struck the ball cleanly. He got 2 runs off his first three deliveries before he struck Trent Boult for a six and a couple of fours to get going. That six was off the top-edge but the next two boundaries were delightful as they came off the middle of the bat.

He then hit Mohammed Shami for a six and a four and raced off to 27 in just 9 deliveries. Amit Mishra bowled the third over and was smashed all around the park. Rahul struck 3 fours and 2 sixes to bring up the fastest ever IPL fifty and bettered Sunil Narine and Yusuf Pathan’s record of 15 balls. 

The 25-year-old Karnataka was dismissed a couple of overs later, but his 16-ball 51 set the tone for KXIP’s chase.