Kings XI Punjab hosted Chennai Super Kings in the 55th match of IPL 2019 at the PCA Stadium, Mohali on Sunday (May 5).

Set into bat first, CSK rode on Faf du Plessis’ 55-ball 96 and Suresh Raina’s 38-ball 53 to post 170/5 on the board. For KXIP, Sam Curran was the stand-out bowler, claiming 3 wickets for 35 runs in his 4 overs. Mohammad Shami also chipped in with a couple of scalps in his 3 overs.

In the chase, Kings XI got off to flying start, courtesy KL Rahul and Chris Gayle pulverizing the CSK bowling attack. In particular, Rahul made the mockery of opposition bowlers. He attacked from the outset and notched up his fifty in just 19 deliveries – the third fastest of this season. The duo brought up a 100-run partnership between them in 54 balls, with Rahul contributing 68 runs.

When KXIP’s score was 108, Harbhajan Singh struck twice for CSK in the 11th over, removing the rampaging Rahul (71 off 36 balls) and Gayle (28) in successive deliveries. Harbhajan didn’t stop there as he got rid of the in-form Mayank Agarwal (7) in the 13th over to reduce Punjab to 118/3.

Needing 53 off 46 balls, Nicholas Pooran and Mandeep Singh took the matter into their hands. While Pooran hit boundaries at regular intervals, Mandeep ably supported him by rotating the strike. The pair put on 46 runs in just 24 balls before Jadeja dismissed Pooran (36 off 22 balls). Afterwards, Mandeep (11) in the company of Sam Curran (6) completed the formalities and guided the home team over the line with 6 wickets and 12 balls to spare.

Cricket experts on Twitter were might impressed to see the way KL Rahul’s dazzling batting performance secured a thumping win for KXIP over the defending IPL champions.

Here are some of the tweets: