The fans at the Ekana Stadium here had been eagerly waiting for Lucknow Super Giants skipper KL Rahul to produce an innings of substance.  It finally came against Punjab Kings with Rahul notching up his first half-century of the IPL season. The knock was valuable not only for his team, but for him personally too as in the previous four innings he had been struggling to find form.

There is no doubt that Rahul’s form is very crucial for Lucknow Super Giants if they hope to go all the way to the playoffs. Thus, his Saturday knock against Punjab augurs well for the team’s fortunes in the tournament. In the process of making 74 off 56 balls, Rahul became the quickest to 4,000 runs in IPL history, reaching the feat in his 105th innings to surpass Chris Gayle’s record of 112 innings.