KL Rahul was a man on a mission against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. He was the same against the Lucknow Super Giants. If IPL were a Bollywood movie, KL Rahul undoubtedly would be the protagonist for revenge stories. Revenge is a strong word in sports. Rahul's body language and mannerisms, backed up by runs from the bat, provided more than enough proof to confirm that he wanted to make a point or two against his former teams.
After finishing the match against RCB, Rahul slammed his bat on the ground and drew a circle with it. He later revealed that this was his way of letting the world know that the Chinnaswamy Stadium was his territory, irrespective of the team he represented in the IPL.
Against LSG, the team which released ahead of last year's mega auction after a public disagreement with the owner, Sanjiv Goenka, Rahul pointed towards the back of his jersey, which had his name and No.1. Rahul was, of course, the first draft of LSG when they entered the IPL three years ago. He led the franchise for three years without much success and was released last year, but not before Goenka had an animated chat with him on the sidelines after their defeat to SRH.
DC picked up Rahul for RS 14 crore, and the right-hander has turned it all around in this IPL. Rahul scored an unbeaten 57 to help DC beat LSG by 8 wickets and with 13 balls to spare. It was his third half-century this season. In the process, Rahul became the fastest to reach 5000 runs in the IPL. He achieved the feat in 130 innings, bettering former Australian opener David Warner's 135. Royal Challengers Bengaluru's batting maestro Virat Kohli slipped to the third spot in the list, having achieved the feat in 157 innings.
Also Read | KL Rahul breathes fire at Kevin Pietersen again, signals at DC mentor on '5000 IPL runs' announcement in dressing room
{{/usCountry}}DC picked up Rahul for RS 14 crore, and the right-hander has turned it all around in this IPL. Rahul scored an unbeaten 57 to help DC beat LSG by 8 wickets and with 13 balls to spare. It was his third half-century this season. In the process, Rahul became the fastest to reach 5000 runs in the IPL. He achieved the feat in 130 innings, bettering former Australian opener David Warner's 135. Royal Challengers Bengaluru's batting maestro Virat Kohli slipped to the third spot in the list, having achieved the feat in 157 innings.
Also Read | KL Rahul breathes fire at Kevin Pietersen again, signals at DC mentor on '5000 IPL runs' announcement in dressing room
{{/usCountry}}Overall, he became the eighth player to enter the 5000-run club in the tournament after Virat (8,326), Rohit (6,786), Shikhar Dhawan (6,769), Warner (6,565), Suresh Raina (5,528), MS Dhoni (5,377) and AB de Villiers (5,162). In IPL, Rahul boasts a staggering 5,006 runs in 139 matches at a stellar average of 46.35, laced with 40 fifties and four centuries.
As soon as Rahul reached his fifty, he raised his bat to the crowd, where Goenka was also sitting with his son and pointed to the back of his jersey with No.1 written on it. Interestingly, Goenka wears No.1 in his LSG uniform.
That was not the first time Goenka and Rahul's visuals went viral. When Rahul charged down the track to hit a six off Aiden Markram, the cameras panned to the LSG owner, who had a wry smile on his face.
After the match, Goenka and his son Shashwat shook hands with Rahul and tried to stop him for a conversation but Rahul was in no mood to have a chat. He walked after giving a cold shoulder to the Goenka duo.