IPL 2020 | As a leader it's important to lead from the front, remarks KL Rahul
KL Rahul, who awed one and all with his remarkable ton, emphasized on the need for a captain to lead from the front. The KXIP skipper termed the win a result of a complete team effort as Punjab outplayed RCB to win their first IPL game by a big margin of 97 runs after losing their first game. Â
KL Rahul is in the form of his life and shone through yet again as he made a massive 132, the highest score by an Indian in the IPL, and helped his side win their first game of the season by 97 runs beating Virat Kohli's men. Rahul helped the Kings set up a total of 206 runs as he smashed 43 runs off the final 14 deliveries he faced and punished Shivam Dube and Dale Steyn for fun as RCB conceded 80 runs in their last five overs. Rahul had made a terrific transition from being 72 off 51 to end up 132* off 69.Â
Speaking post match, Rahul asserted that there was a little bit of nervousness but he did what was required and ended up with the desired result. He also praised Ravi Bishnoi, who ended with figures of 3/32, for his fighting spirit.
"It's as complete a team performance as it can get, so yeah, happy. I've actually been not so confident. Had a chat with Maxi yesterday and said I wasn't feeling completely in control of my batting. Was a little nervous but I knew if I faced a few balls, it would settled down. Sometimes as a captain you're short on time, but I still try and maintain the same routine.Â
"Till the toss I still want to think as a player, not a captain. [The bowling] we had a few different plans going into this game and we knew we had to get wickets up front, that also meant we needed to get a big score. As complete a performance as it can get. has a lot of heart. He has a lot of fight in him. Every time I throw the ball to him, he wants to get in the fight. He was a little nervous bowling to Finch and AB, but showed a lot of heart," Rahul said at the post-match presentation.Â
Chasing 207 runs, RCB were blown away right from the start as last match half-centurion Devdutt Padikkal made just one run. Bangalore were taken apart by KXIP leggies as both M Ashwin and Ravi Bishnoi scalped three wickets each. Cottrell also chipped in with wickets of Padikkal and the prized scalp of Virat Kohli, who failed and made 1.Â