Mohali: Opener Lokesh Rahul’s (51) fastest fifty in the Indian Premier League (IPL) history and Karun Nair’s explosive fifty helped Kings XI Punjab beat Delhi Daredevils by six wickets in the second match here on Sunday.
Chasing modest target 167, Rahul slamming 50 of just 14 balls, gave a flying start to his team before being dismissed for 51 off Trent Boult in the fourth over after Mayank Agarwal (7) fell cheaply. In the first over, Rahul smashed Boult for 16 runs.
Yuvraj Singh also joined the party and hit a couple of boundaries but could not continue for long as he was dismissed by Chris Morris in the 10th over.
Middle-order batsmen Nair and David Miller (24 not out) then came and played carefully. Nair was at his best, thrashing Delhi bowlers at will while Miller was rotating the strike.
But with 29 runs needing in 27 balls, Nair was sent packing by pacer Daniel Christian. While trying to pull powerfully over mid-wicket, Nair could not connect properly and found Boult standing on the boundary rope who took a regulation catch. In his 33 ball innings, Nair slammed five boundaries and two sixes.
The fall of wicket brought in Marcus Stoinis (22 not out), who, along with Miller, then rotated the strike till the end and made sure their team reached the finish line.
Earlier, put in to bat, Delhi Daredevils posted 166/7 with newly-appointed skipper Gautam Gambhir (55) scoring handsomely for the team.
Apart from him, wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant and all-rounder Morris (27) also contributed to the cause.
For Punjab, Mohit Sharma and Mujeeb Ur Rahman scalped two wicket each.
Meanwhile, with Tamil Nadu’s Cauvery river water sharing row with Karnataka hotting up, a few IPL matches of the present season might be held in Kerala.
The matches that could be held in Kerala include those involving Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) — to be held in Chennai and Bengaluru.
Kerala Cricket Association secretary Jayesh George told the media on Sunday that talks for these changes have already begun. “Last night, CSK CEO K.S. Viswanathan spoke to me about this and today top officials of the BCCI and IPL, including Amitabh Choudhary and Rajeev Shukla, also talked to me.
“We have expressed our willingness to stage IPL matches in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi. We will hear from them in the next few days,” he said.
The state-of-the-art Greenfield Stadium here could be the most likely venue if Kerala is allotted any of the IPL matches as the Kochi venue which was the home ground of the Kochi Tuskers in 2011 could take a while before it could be match-ready.
Apart from the excellent facilities at the Greenfield Stadium, which last year staged the India vs New Zealand T20, another reason it could be the choice is that Thiruvananthapuram can be reached by road in less than eight hours from Tamil Nadu.
