During his blistering knock of 80 from 52 deliveries against Australia in the second match in Rajkot, KL Rahul became the fourth-fastest Indian to bring up 1,000 ODI runs.
Rahul brought up the mark of his 27th innings. Only Virat Kohli (24), Shikhar Dhawan (24) and Navjot Singh Sidhu (25) have reached the milestone in fewer innings.
Rahul, coming in to bat at No.5 after having batted at first drop in the previous game, looked comfortable right from the word go. He struck six fours and three sixes during his stay, and, most impressively, took Mitchell Starc apart in the closing overs. The ace pace bowler finished with figures of 0-78; a far cry from his brilliant 3-56 in the previous game.
KL Rahul’s quickfire 80 powers India to 340-6 at the end of 50 overs.
Can the Australian openers repeat their Mumbai heroics to set up a series clinching win?#INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/aDyJgS305L
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) January 17, 2020
Rahul, who made his ODI debut in 2016, has a career-best score of 111. In all, he has scored three centuries to date and has five fifties to his name. The 80 today is his highest score against Australia so far, never having previously made a fifty against them in four matches, despite coming close with a fine 47 in the previous game.
During the course of his knock, he stitched up two key partnerships; the first with captain Kohli for the fourth wicket worth 78 runs and then a 58-run stand with Ravindra Jadeja for the sixth wicket.
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Those efforts helped India to a formidable total of 340-6 on a belting batting pitch as the hosts look for a victory to help draw level in the three-match series after Australia defeated them by 10 wickets in the first game.
