IPL 2024: With his 25th IPL Fifty as a wicketkeeper, KL Rahul surpasses MS Dhoni’s record

In the Indian Premier League’s current season, LSG captain KL Rahul’s 82-run blow against CSK at the Ekana Sports City in Lucknow on Friday helped his team defeat the reigning champions by an easy 8 wickets.

Rahul achieved the 50-plus milestone for the 25th time in his IPL career with his game-winning half-century, which also saw him surpass CSK wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni on the list of most 50-plus runs by a designated wicketkeeper.

Second on the list is Dhoni, who has scored 24 fifties in the lucrative Twenty20 tournament. Quinton de Kock, in third position, is also included, having scored a fifty against Chennai on Friday to provide excellent support for his captain.

With 21 fifty-plus runs to his credit, RCB wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik, who has been their lone bright spot this season, is ranked fourth on the list. Former star Robin Uthappa, who has reached the half-century mark an incredible 18 times, is ranked fifth.

After winning the toss and choosing to field first against CSK, LSG was able to restrict the holders to a total of 177 runs for the loss of six wickets in 20 overs. The visitors were led by Ravindra Jadeja, who scored an undefeated 57 runs off of 40 deliveries, and Dhoni, who scored a rapid 28 off of just 9 deliveries.

Rahul and de Kock put up a 134-run opening partnership that gave Lucknow the upper hand in the game; both batsmen went on to score more than fifty runs.

After scoring 54 runs off only 43 deliveries, the South African left-hander was removed by Mustafizur Rahman, while Jadeja produced an incredible catch to remove the opposing captain, Rahul, who was removed by Matheesha Pathirana.

But the damage was done and all Nicholas Pooran and Marcus Stoinis had to do to take the two points on offer was apply the game’s concluding touches, which was obviously in their hands.