It’s been 12 years since the inception of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Kings XI Punjab is one of three current franchises that have never won an IPL title. However, they began IPL 2020 in style, in terms of personal achievements and run scoring, with their opening batsmen occupying both the #1 and #2 slots on the run scoring charts after 3 games in this year’s campaign.
The third game in the season in particular was a fascinating one where KXIP posted 220+ against Rajasthan Royals and their opener Mayank Agarwal starred in that innings, scoring his first ever IPL century. Let’s take you through what happened that game on 27th September 2020 in Sharjah, after Steve Smith won the toss for Rajasthan Royals and decided to field first.
The KXIP opening partnership took the game away from Rajasthan as Agarwal put up 183 runs with his captain KL Rahul at the top before he lost his wicket in the 17th over, dismissed for a well made 106(50). Agarwal accelerated at the right time to a maiden IPL century, an accomplishment he narrowly missed a few days back when he was dismissed for 89 against Delhi Capitals in Match 2.
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He hit 10 fours and 7 big sixes at the Sharjah International Stadium, bringing up his first IPL century but overall, the second century of IPL 2020 with this teammate KL Rahul itself scoring the first century of IPL 2020 in their previous game. Rahul scored 69(54) in this game and these antics by the KXIP openers allowed them to post 223/2 in their 20 overs, which is a match-winning score at any T20 venue across the world.
However, they didn’t know what they were in for as the Rajasthan batsmen came out all guns blazing. Fifties from Steve Smith and young Sanju Samson meant they had a brilliant start and towards the end, we witnessed one of the best cameos in IPL history from a certain Rahul Tewatia, who was sent out as a pinch hitter and ended up taking the game away from KXIP altogether.
At one stage, RR needed to score at more than 18 runs an over and it was completely done and dusted. Little did poor Mayank Agarwal know that his first IPL century was about to go in vain, as Tewatia smacked 5 sixes off 6 balls against Sheldon Cottrell and Rajasthan completed the highest successful chase in IPL history, winning by 4 wickets with 3 balls to spare!
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Mayank has matured as a batsman over the years and his experience playing for India in the last 12-18 months has helped him excel even more, scoring runs everywhere including a Test double century for India. He may have entered his name into the list of all IPL centuries but he wouldn’t be happy that he ended on the losing side. In fact, his fifty in the previous game also ended in vain!
It was also the second fastest century by an Indian in the 13-year history of the IPL at the time of getting to the landmark. Mayank got his ton in 45 balls, which was 8 balls slower than Yusuf Pathan’s long standing record of a 37-ball century for Rajasthan Royals. For more updates and similar throwback stories from the world of cricket, make sure you stay tuned to ReadScoops.com…
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