The ninth match of the ongoing IPL 2020 saw Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) taking on Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Sharjah. Steve Smith won the toss and put KXIP into bat first and it proved to be a decision that backfired spectacularly.
The opening duo of Mayank Agarwal and skipper KL Rahul added 183 runs in 16.3 overs to put tremendous pressure on RR bowlers. Agarwal made 106 in 50 balls with 10 fours and 7 sixes to his name, before being caught by Samson off Tom Curran.
It was an amazing innings in which he spared no bowler and even their strike spinner Shreyas Gopal went for 44 runs in his 4 overs. He was brutal in his execution of sixes and took advantage of short boundaries in the Sharjah stadium.
The KXIP innings continued in the same vein but KL Rahul fell for 69 in 54 balls with 7 fours and 1 six. Maxwell (13*) and Pooran (25* in 8 balls) hit a few lusty blows in the death overs as KXIP ended their 20 overs on 223/2.
The Cricket fraternity was in awe of Mayank Agarwal’s amazing century in which he saw some great array of shots all around the Sharjah ground. They took to Twitter to laud him.
Here are some tweets:
