Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Ajinkya Rahane etched his name in IPL history on Sunday by surpassing West Indies’ batting powerhouse Chris Gayle to become the ninth-highest run scorer in the tournament.
The milestone came during Match 53 of the 18th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Rahane scored 30 runs from 24 balls, which was laced with two maximums and one boundary in his innings. With this knock, the right-hand batter surpassed Chris Gayle and achieved this landmark.
So far in the history of IPL, Ajinkya Rahane has slammed 4969 runs in 181 innings at a strike rate of 124.72 and an average of 30.48 with the help of 33 fifties and two centuries. His best score in this league is 105*.
On the other hand, Chris Gayle has smashed 4965 runs in 141 IPL innings before retiring in 2021. The southpaw scored these runs at a strike rate of 148.96 and an average of 39.72 with the help of six tons and 31 half-centuries.
Coming to the match, KKR won the toss and opted to bat first.
After Sunil Narine was dismissed cheaply, a half-century stand between skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (35 in 25 balls, with four boundaries and a six) steadied the ship. A 61-run stand for the fourth wicket between Angkrish Raghuvanshi (44 in 31 balls, with five fours) and Andre Russell (57* in 25 balls, with four boundaries and six sixes) gave the innings much-needed speed. Russell and Rinku (19* in six balls, with a four and two sixes) took KKR to 206/4 in their 20 overs.
Jofra Archer, Yudhvir Singh, Riyan, and Maheesh Theekshana each took wickets.
During the run-chase of 207 runs, RR was 71/5, but a 92-run stand between skipper Riyan Parag (95 in 45 balls, with six fours and eight sixes) and Shimron Hetmyer (29 in 23 balls, with a four and six) gave them a massive chance. Despite fireworks from Shubham Dubey (25* in 14 balls, with a four and two sixes) and Jofra Archer (12 in eight balls, with a four), RR fell short by a run, finishing at 205/8 in their 20 overs.
Varun Chakravarthy (2/32), Harshit Rana (2/41) and Moeen Ali (2/43) were the top wicket-takers for KKR.