"IPL ka gunda hoon main!"- Fans erupt as KL Rahul begins the season with a bang

KL Rahul started his IPL 2021 season in phenomenal fashion as he scored a brilliant 91 and helped Punjab Kings (PBKS) post a mammoth total of 221-6 in their 20 overs against the Rajasthan Royals (RR). It was a typical captain's knock from the 28-year-old as he anchored the PBKS innings to perfection.

There was a lot of talk about KL Rahul's strike rate last season even though he finished as the tournament's leading run-scorer. However, Rahul ensured that he accelerated at the right time and has put his team in an extremely strong position.

Twitterati hails KL Rahul for his 'captain's knock'

The last few months have been full of highs and lows for KL Rahul, as he first had a terrible T20 series against England, scoring just 15 runs from 4 innings. However, he redeemed himself in the ODIs, scoring a fantastic hundred in the middle-order.

With a place in the T20 World Cup squad for Team India up for grabs, a strong IPL season will certainly keep KL Rahul in good stead. Fans on Twitter were ecstatic with Rahul's knock and here is what they had to say:

PBKS were already on the backfoot after being asked to bat first at Wankhede, where chasing teams win most of the time. Thus, it was crucial for them to put runs on the board.

Straightaway, KL Rahul kept one end of the wicket intact and let the likes of Mayank Agarwal and Chris Gayle take the game to the opposition. Sending Deepak Hooda at No.4 was an inspired move as he smashed an incredible 64 off just 28 balls.

That set up PBKS nicely in the final few overs, where KL Rahul began to tee off. Although he fell just 9 short of a well-deserved hundred, the skipper once again proved why it is important for him to bat till the end.

RR got their chase off to the worst possible start as they lost danger man Ben Stokes for a duck. They will now need the likes of Jos Buttler and skipper Sanju Samson to bat longer if they are to chase down this mammoth target.