KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal
Punjab Kings (PBKS) opening pair of KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal on Tuesday equalled Indian Premier League (IPL) record following their fifth century stand during IPL 2021 match against Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Dubai International Stadium.
The pair stitched a 120-run opening stand in 71 balls to provide a perfect start to Punjab's chase of 186. With the century stand, the fifth for the pair, the two equalled the record for most hundred-plus stand by two Indian batsmen alongside the former Kolkata Knight Riders pair of Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir, although in 19 fewer innings. The tally is also the most for a PBKS pair surpassing the previous best tally of four by Rahul and Chris Gayle.
Overall, the pair stand joint fourth-highest with their tally of five century partnerships. Royal Challengers Bangalore pair of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers stands atop with 10 such partnerships followed by the former RCB pair of Kohli and Gayle (9) and Sunrisers Hyderabad pair of Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner (6).
Arshdeep Singh's maiden five-wicket haul and Mohammed Shami's three-fer restricted Rajasthan Royals to 185 after Yashasvi Jaiswal's 49 and Majipal Lomror's 17-ball 43.
En route to the century stand, captain Rahul became the fastest Indian to 3000 IPL runs and the second-fastest overall after Gayle, achieving the feat in his 75th innings. Meanwhile, Mayank, who scored his ninth half-century in the league, reached the milestone of 2000 runs.
Earlier in the evening
