It was one of the most explosive batting displays in Indian Premier League history when KL Rahul produced a breathtaking unbeaten 152 to power Delhi Capitals to a mammoth total against Punjab Kings at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday. The innings was a masterful performance, showing KL Rahul's sheer dominance. His knock came off 67 balls and featured 16 fours and 9 sixes, as he dismantled the Punjab bowling attack with remarkable ease. With his knock, he became the first Indian batter to score over 150 in the tournament’s history. His 152* is now the highest individual IPL score by an Indian in the tournament's history. After his knock, Rahul said that he had caught up with the demand of T20 cricket.
'There's no time in T20 cricket to say "later".' There is time in ODI cricket to say, 'OK, maybe I can hold off for a couple of overs and attack at the back end,' but as an opening batter playing T20 cricket, that's something that I watched and learned from the other guys who are playing international cricket and been successful is that there's no time for you to think, 'OK, I'm going to go next over,'" Rahul said at the post-match presentation.
"Just had to step back a little bit and see where the T20 game has gone. And what the demand of T20 cricket is in today's day and age," Rahul said. "Watching the T20 World Cup, watching some of the young guys coming in and smashing from ball one," he said.
KL stated he has had to work on his hitting ability considering the demand of T20 cricket.
"I've spoken about six-hitting, and that's something I had to really work on and give myself that sort of freedom to go out there and take on the bowling from maybe ball one, ball two. There was a time when T20 game was slightly different, when I as an opener could take some time and then accelerate. I had enough confidence in my ability that I could always convert those starts and make it a big knock in the end. But today's demand is that the first six overs are the most thing in the powerplay to get as many runs. That's something that I had to sit back and see where I was at and what I need to do to get better," he said.