Rahul registers his and the season's slowest fifty

In the last three matches played at the MA Chidambaram stadium, teams batting first have registered totals of 137/9, 120/10 and 131/6. Match by match, batting is becoming a difficult feat at Chepauk. However, KL Rahul elected to field first when all the captains had chosen to bat first in the last four matches prior to tonight. It did pan out well, as their bowlers restricted the Mumbai Indians batsmen to 131. As has been the case this season at Chepauk, teams struggle to score even while chasing a small total . But, Rahul stayed till the end and guided Punjab Kings to their second win of the season.

Scarcity of boundaries in Powerplay

Prior to tonight’s match, they were scoring at a run rate of eight in the Powerplay. But, that wasn’t the case in their match against Punjab. Mumbai managed to score only 21 runs with the loss of Quinton de Kock in their first six overs. Mumbai batsmen could score only one boundary in this phase of play. This was only the third instance of them scoring one or fewer boundaries in the first six overs. The last time they scored only one boundary in this phase was in 2017 against Royal Challengers Bangalore. In addition, the score of 21/1 is their second-lowest score ever in IPL in the first six overs.   

Third lowest score for MI with one 50+ score

In all the five matches played, Mumbai have batted first. Their scores have been plummeting down every match. In their first match they scored 159, then 152, 150 in their third, 137 in their fourth and tonight, 131. The score of 131 against Punjab in their fifth, is the third lowest for them in IPL with at least one batsmen scoring a 50+. In the five matches played this season, there have been only two fifties. One from Suryakumar Yadav and another from Rohit. In the first five matches from last season, Mumbai batsmen had five 50+ scores.

The slowest half-century of this season

For a long time there have been talks about Rahul’s depreciating strike rate. Tonight, as well, it was one of those innings in which Rahul slowed down after the Powerplay. However, considering the conditions at Chepauk, him staying till the end, despite a slow innings, was acceptable. Rahul has had three fifties this season. Out of these, in two of those he played over 40 balls to reach the milestone. His run a ball half-century against Mumbai is the slowest of this season and his personal slowest in IPL.

Most 50+ scores for Punjab Kings

One amongst the most prolific run scorers of IPL, Rahul registered yet another record in Punjab colors. When he reached his half-century against Mumbai, he went past Shaun Marsh’s tally of 21 scores of over 50, which was the highest for the franchise. Rahul still trails by 334 runs to be the most successful batsman for the franchise in IPL. He has scored 2143 runs at an average of 54.9 and a strike rate of 139.3 so far.