This Day That Year: KL Rahul breath-taking century against West Indies

 

KL Rahul showed his class by scoring a breath-taking century in the first T20I against the mighty West Indies played at Lauderhill, Florida on 27^th August 2016.

This was the first international match played at Lauderhill. The match went right down the wire in a high scoring affair. Indian captain Virat Kohli won the toss and decided to field first. Johnson Charles and Evin Lewis smashed the Indian bowlers to all parts of the ground.

The West Indies openers created enough pressure on the Indian bowlers right from word go. Charles and Lewis put on 126 runs in 9.3 overs to lay a strong foundation for a massive total. Andre Russell and Kieron Pollard cameo’s, Evin Lewis 100 off 49 balls helped West Indies put on a mammoth score of 245 for 6 in 20 overs.

Chasing a massive target 246 runs to win, Rohit Sharma began off briskly while Rahane was dismissed cheaply. Indian captain Virat Kohli played some lovely strokes before getting out to leave the Men in Blue at 48 for 2.

Coming at number 4, KL Rahul showed his class and put the West Indies bowlers under pressure. Rohit was in fluent touch reaching fifty off 22 balls while KL Rahul raced away to his half-century off 26 balls. Both batsmen played with positive intent making life tough for West Indies bowlers. Pollard struck to get rid of Rohit for a superb 62 off 28 balls. Rohit and Rahul added 89 runs for the 3^rd wicket.

After the fall of Rohit Sharma’s wicket, Rahul played innovative strokes stunning the West Indies bowlers. It was an amazing knock by the Karnataka lad reaching his maiden T20I century off 46 balls. The match went right down the wire as India required 8 runs to chase down this massive target. KL Rahul remained not out on 110 off 51 balls with 12 fours and 5 sixes. MS Dhoni was dismissed off the last ball to give West Indies a thrilling 1 run win.

He made his T20I debut for India against Zimbabwe on 18^th June 2016. Since then he has featured in 42 matches ( 38 innings) and scored 1461 runs. Apart from Rohit Sharma and Suresh,  KL Rahul became the 3rd Indian batsmen to score a century in the T20I format.  

Since the home series against West Indies, Rahul has been in sensational form. During the T20I series against New Zealand this year, he showed tremendous consistency and helped India provide great starts. He was awarded the man of the series for his 224 runs from 5 matches.

 This Day That Year: KL Rahul breath-taking T20I century against West Indies in 2016