KL Rahul becomes first Indian opener to hit 200 IPL sixes

JAIPUR: Delhi Capitals (DC) registered a thumping seven-wicket win against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in their IPL 2026 clash at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Friday night, with opener K L Rahul achieving a major milestone during the match.

During the high-scoring encounter, Rahul became the first Indian opener to smash 200 sixes in the history of the Indian Premier League. The right-handed batter, who scored a fluent half-century, smashed five sixes and six fours to reach the landmark.

Across 112 matches as an opener, Rahul has amassed 4,851 runs at an impressive average of 50.01, striking at 141.38. His tally includes six centuries and 39 fifties, along with 433 boundaries and 203 sixes in IPL history.

Rahul is now only the third opener overall to reach the landmark, joining former cricketers David Warner and Chris Gayle in the cash-rich league. Gayle leads the chart with 326 sixes, whereas Warner had smashed 210 maximums as an opener in the tournament’s history.

A blistering 110-run opening stand between KL Rahul (75 off 40) and Pathum Nissanka (62 off 33) laid the perfect foundation for a record 226-run chase, which was calmly finished by Tristan Stubbs (18*) and Ashutosh Sharma (25*) with five balls to spare.

Earlier, Riyan Parag led from the front with a superb 90 off 50 balls, his first fifty-plus score of the season, while Donovan Ferreira smashed an unbeaten 47 off just 14 deliveries to power RR to 225/6 after opting to bat. Parag steadied the innings alongside Dhruv Jurel (42) following early setbacks before Mitchell Starc (3/40) struck key blows, including the RR skipper’s wicket, on his return.

This marks DC’s highest run-chase in IPL history. The visitors sealed the match with 5 balls to spare. With this win, DC bags its fourth victory of the season and is placed 6th in the points table, while RR stays in fourth position with six wins out of their 10 matches.

This is also the second-highest successful chase against RR, behind the 229 runs chased by SRH at the same venue earlier this season. (ANI)