Rahul's marathon century went in vain as PBKS chased down the target of 265 in 18.5 overs.
Opting to bat first, DC racked up a mammoth 264/2 on the board. Rahul stole with the show by achieving the highest individual score by an Indian in IPL, while Nitish Rana smashed 91 off 44 balls.
In reply, PBKS reached home in 18.5 overs. Prabhsimran Singh (76 off 26) and Priyansh Arya (43 off 17) set to tone with a 126-run opening stand before Shreyas Iyer (71* off 36) finished the chase.
After the game, Rahul reflected on his knock and talked about the work that he's been putting in for a long time behind the scenes.
"I was very pleased, very happy at the end of the first 20 overs. It's something that I've been working on for a very long time behind the scenes. Just said this last year as well. I spent a lot of time with Abhishek Nayar. We talked a lot about how I can improve and especially in the white ball game, also red ball game. But for now, it was about doing well in the IPL and where I was at and what I needed to do to get better and catch up with the modern demands of T20 cricket. So I'm really happy to see that I could put that into work and score runs for my team and get them to what I thought was a winning total,” Rahul said at the post-match presentation after receiving the Player-of-the-Match award.
Rahul revealed he has worked on becoming more aggressive from the first ball to adapt to modern T20 demands. Inspired by the T20 World Cup, he focused on six-hitting, powerplay aggression, and mental shifts to maximize scores.
"Just to step back a little bit and see where T20 games have gone and what the demand of T20 cricket is in today's day and age. And watching the T20 World Cup, watching some of the young guys coming in and smashing from ball one, and I've spoken about six hitting, and that's something that I had to really work on and give myself that sort of freedom to go out there and take on the bowling from maybe ball one, ball two," the veteran wicketkeeper stated.
"There was a time where T20 game was slightly different, where I, as an opener, could take some time and then accelerate. I had enough confidence in my ability that I could always convert those starts and make it a big knock at the end, but today's demand is that the first six overs are the most important thing in the power play, to get as many runs as you can and put the bowling under pressure. So that's something that I had to sit back and see where I was at and what I needed to do to get better. But obviously, I stuck to being true to my game, which is to play cricket shots, but also find a way to be aggressive and play proper shots," he added.
Sharing insight on his T20 batting approach, Rahul said he evaluates matchups and conditions to determine when to attack or pull back to safety.
“Look, in T20 cricket, that's the mindset I am in right now. And I was in that sort of mindset last season as well, that there's no time in T20 cricket to say later. You know, there is time in ODI cricket to say, maybe I can hold off for a couple of overs and attack at the back end. But as an opening batter, when you're playing in T20 cricket, that's something that I've watched and learned from the other guys who are playing international cricket and been successful is that there's no time for you to think, okay, I'm going to go next over,” Rahul remarked.
“Yes, there are certain matchups which I feel aren't very favorable to me and the conditions in front of me don't allow me to attack a certain type of bowler. That's when maybe I'll fall back to hitting boundaries and six hitting becomes the second option. But throughout the innings, I've had to work really hard on my mental setup as well to tell myself that six hitting is what's required and trying to get 15, 16 runs in over is a must in T20 cricket,” he concluded.