Lucknow Super Giants skipper KL Rahul joined a couple of elite lists after his match-winning century in the league-stage encounter of the IPL 2022 on April 24 against the Mumbai Indians. The elegant opener is now clubbed with greats Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma for a record number of centuries in IPL and T20 cricket.
Rahul played the decisive hand in LSG’s comprehensive win over MI by 36 runs. On a dry Wankhede Stadium surface where spinners enjoyed their time out, the right-hander blazed his willow for an unbeaten 103 off 62 deliveries, including 12 fours and four sixes. The next highest score for the innings was 22 off 22 balls from Manish Pandey.
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Later, a collective bowling effort from LSG helped them restrict the threatening MI batting line-up to just 132/8 in their 20 overs, with only skipper Rohit Sharma (39) and young Tilak Varma (38) showing some gumption on a challenging surface.
Following the victory, Rahul had two-fold reasons to come up with a beaming smile, as he became only the second Indian after Kohli to record two centuries in an IPL season. Kohli made four hundreds in his memorable 2016 IPL, where he recorded a whopping 973 runs from 16 innings.
Notably, this was Rahul’s second hundred of the season against MI, whom he had hammered for another impactful 103 off 60 balls in a match played at the Brabourne Stadium on April 16. A week or so later, he repeated his feat in another of LSG’s impressive and crucial victory over the five-time champions.
In another feat, the India and Karnataka right-hander also equalled Rohit’s record for most centuries by an Indian in all T20 cricket. Rohit and Rahul both have six centuries in T20s now. While the former has produced four of those internationally for India, the latter has done it four times in the IPL.
Next in the esteemed club are Virat, with five IPL and T20 centuries to his name, and Suresh Raina, who has made four scores of 100 or more in the format.
