He lived a charmed life, got as many as three reprieves before Marcus Stoinis finally got hold of the catch he offered to send ‘birthday boy’ KL Rahul packing for a 51-ball 61.
It all happened on the second ball of the 16th over bowled by Kagiso Rabada when KL Rahul, in an attempt to swipe the fast bowler across the line holed out at deep midwicket.
The catch by Stoinis brought an end to what was another indifferent knock by the Punjab Kings skipper KL Rahul.
It was a knock glittered by his sumptuous strokeplay but he once again played with a defensive mindset even as his opening partner Mayank Agarwal teed off at the other end on what is an absolute belter of a track at Wankhede.
Rahul played second fiddle to Mayank Agarwal throughout their 120-run-stand and even though he got as many as three opportunities, the right-hander could not tee off like he used to do in the past.
He notched up his first 25 runs in 28 balls before racking up another IPL fifty in 45 deliveries.
With Mayank Agarwal getting dismissed the onus of increasing the run-rate fell on KL Rahul’s shoulders and while he did smoke Avesh Khan for a six and a four, he eventually perished while trying to hit Kagiso Rabada for a six.
Deepak Hooda smashed the first ball he faced for a six and ended up with an unbeaten 13-ball 22 while Shahrukh Khan smoked a breezy 5-ball 15 to help Punjab Kings post 4/195 in 20 overs.