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Cricket PlayersKL Rahul leaves Virat Kohli behind for stunning T20 landmark during LSG vs GT, but falls short of Babar Azam's feat
KL Rahul scored 68 runs and went past a major milestone but his team ended up losing to GT in spectacular fashion.
KL Rahul is looking to get his Lucknow Super Giants side to the top of the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) table with a win over Gujarat Titans on Saturday. LSG managed to limit GT to a score of 135/6 with Krunal Pandya and Marcus Stoinis taking two wickets each and Rahul went on to score 68 in 61 balls, his 61st in T20 cricket.
In the process, he has become the fastest Indian to cross 7000 T20 runs, getting their ahead of the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, both of whom have got over 10,000 runs in the format. Rahul has got there in his 197th innings while Kohli is now second on the list, having crossed 7000 runs in 212th innings. Shikhar Dhawan (246 innings) is third while Suresh Raina (251) is fourth. Rohit Sharma comes fifth on 258 innings.
Rahul is third overall in the list, behind West Indies great Chris Gayle and Pakistan captain Babar Azam. Gayle got there in 192 innings while Babar crossed 7000 runs in his 187th innings.
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Hardik Pandya was the top scoret for GT with a 50-ball 66 but slow batting in the middle overs meant that Gujarat Titans could post only a modest 135 runs. Wriddhiman Saha made 47 off 37 balls to lay the foundation but Hardik couldn't get going for most part of his innings although he somewhat made up for the slow batting with some big hits in the end.
Hardik, who promoted himself to No. 3, found the going tough initially but Saha was in good nick as he dispatched Stoinis across backward point for another boundary. Hardik finally broke free, sending Bishnoi across extra cover to bring up the 50-run partnership and then depositing him over long-off as the 9th over yielded 14 runs. Hardik clubbed Stoinis for a maximum before holing out to KL Rahul.
LSG are currently second on the league table with eight points in six matches while GT are on six points. LSG are level on points with top-ranked Rajasthan Royals, with their net run rate of 0.709 being the reason why they are behind the Sanju Samson-led side. GT, meanwhile could become the fourth team to reach eight points and even break into the top three if they can get their NRR above third-placed Chennai Super Kings.
