A fan calls KL Rahul 'Thala' on Twitter; KXIP skipper responds in style

The Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) captain KL Rahul is winning hearts on and off the field. The swashbuckling right hander is having a tremendous run in the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2020) as he has amassed 525 runs in nine games averaging over 75 while having a strike rate of 135.65. Though Punjab have won only three matches out of nine so far, the newly-appointed captain is shining from the very first game.

On Sunday, October 18, KL Rahul & Co. were involved in a thrilling affair with the defending champions Mumbai Indians. Batting first, Mumbai had posted 176 runs in 20 overs while Punjab also made the same number of runs in 120 balls, which resulted in a third Super Over clash of the season. Interestingly, both Mumbai and Punjab were previously involved in Super Over with Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals respectively and had lost the game.

KL Rahul’s sweet gesture on Twitter wins hearts

In the first Super Over, Mumbai had to score 6 runs off six deliveries as Punjab had made only 5 runs while batting. The consistent bowling and pin-point yorkers from Mohammed Shami ensured that the game was reduced to “2 needed off 1 ball”.

Hitting the ball, the opposition batsman Quinton de Kock and Rohit Sharma started running but the former was run-out while trying to complete the second run and the credit for this dismissal solely goes to wicketkeeper Rahul. Despite a bad throw by the fielder, the skipper collected the ball at lightning speed and hit the stumps.

Praising KL Rahul for his heroics behind the stumps, a Twitter user named him as Thala. Notably, the former Indian captain MS Dhoni, who has had a remarkable career as a wicket-keeper batsman for the Indian team, is lovingly referred to as Thala by his fans in Chennai. Acknowledging the tweet, Rahul responded to the user saying that there is only one Thala in the cricket world and everyone is aware about him. This was a very sweet gesture from the batsman.

As the first Super Over also resulted in a draw, the match saw another Super Over where Punjab comfortably registered a victory owing to the power hitting by Chris Gayle and Mayank Agarwal.