IPL 2021: KL Rahul overtakes Shikhar Dhawan to claim Orange Cap, Nicholas Pooran creates another unwanted record

KL Rahul has so far amassed 331 runs from seven outings, which includes four half-centuries. Dhawan stands second on the list with 311 runs from the same number of matches.

IPL 2021: KL Rahul overtakes Shikhar Dhawan to claim Orange Cap. (Twitter/IPL)

It was another great outing for KL Rahul as the Punjab Kings skipper played an unbeaten knock of 91 off 57 balls to help his side impose a challenging 179/5 on the board in their Indian Premier League clash against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday. 

Leading his side from the front, the wicketkeeper-batsman played at an impressive strike-rate of 159.65 and went on to hit seven fours and five sixes. With this effort, Rahul also overtook Delhi Capitals opener Shikhar Dhawan and is now the new Orange Cap holder.

Rahul has so far amassed 331 runs from seven outings, which includes four half-centuries. Dhawan stands second on the list with 311 runs from the same number of matches.  

This is KL Rahul at his very best  — Punjab Kings (@PunjabKingsIPL) April 30, 2021

Rahul started off his innings on a cautious note and had just managed to fetch 19 off the first 22 deliveries he faced. However, once he switched gears, Rahul played at a strike-rate of over 200 and went on to add 72 in just 35 deliveries. 

Meanwhile, Nicholas Pooran, who has so far had a dreadful outing in IPL 2021, failed to make any impact in the contest. The Windies cricketer was dismissed for his fourth duck of the tournament and went on to join an wanted list of cricketers with most number of ducks in IPL. 

Most ducks in an IPL season:

4 : H Gibbs, 2009
4 : M Manhas, 2011
4 : M Pandey, 2012
4 : S Dhawan, 2020
4 : N Pooran, 2021*#PBKSvsRCB — Umang Pabari (@UPStatsman) April 30, 2021

Nicholas Pooran's Average Batting Impact in #IPL2021 is -5.9, his lowest ever for a T20 domestic league where he's made more than a single appearance. #PBKSvRCB — The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) April 30, 2021

Meanwhile, during the clash between Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad earlier this month, Pooran became the first player to be dismissed on a two-ball duck, one- ball duck and a duck without facing a single ball in the same season.

With two wins from six encounters, Punjab currently stand sixth on the points table and it would be interesting to see if Rahul and co. manage to put brakes on RCB's winning momentum.