Talismanic Indian opener KL Rahul responded to his World Cup inclusion with a half-century in Indian Premier League match against Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday.
Rahul smashed his 14th IPL half-century in 45 balls and it was also his fourth fifty this season. Rahul played a responsible knock of 52 runs before getting dismissed by left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat.
Rahul hit three fours and two massive sixes in his fifty run knock.
On Monday, BCCI announced the 15-member squad for the upcoming World Cup 2019 which will be held in England. Rahul will travell England as the third opener apart from Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan.
Earlier, Rajasthan skipper Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and opted to bowl first. Rahul started slow but his partner Chris Gayle took away pressure from his shoulders and scored a quickfire 30.
After the short glimpse of Gaylestorm, Mayank Agarwal came in played an aggressive knock of 26 off just 12 deliveries.
Rahul built a strong 85-run partnership with South African batsman David Miller who scored 40.
KXIP posted 182/6 on the scoreboard. For Rajasthan, Jofra Archer was the pick of the bowler with excellent figures of 3/15.
Rahul has been in great touch in this season of IPL as he has scored 387 runs in 9 innings at an average of 77.40 till now. Right now he is second on the list of Orange cap with David Warner leading the charts with 400 runs in just 7 matches.