KL Rahul, Lucknow Super Giants captain, smashed a
56-ball hundred against Mumbai Indians on Saturday at the Brabourne Stadium,
Mumbai. The right-handed batter hit five sixes and nine boundaries during his
magnificent knock. This was his third IPL hundred. He achieved the feat in his
100th IPL match.

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Earlier in the afternoon, Mumbai Indians captain Rohit
Sharma won the toss and decided to field first. Batting first, LSG got off to a
flying start, with Quinton de Kock (24 off 13 balls) and Rahul sharing a 52-run
partnership. De  Kock was eventually dismissed
by Fabian Allen in the sixth over.

However, captain Rahul kept smashing Mumbai Indians
bowlers around the park. He maintained a strike rate of 171.67.

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Rahul was eventually unbeaten on 103 off 60 balls as LSG post 199 for 4 in 20 overs. The
second-highest scorer of LSG innings was Manish Pandey, who scored 38 off 29
balls.

On way to his
hundred, he added 52 for the opening stand with de Kock, 72 with Pandey, and another brisk 43 runs with
Deepak Hooda (15 off 8 balls) for the fourth wicket.

MI’s fielding was
perhaps their worst in the past four to five seasons and it didn’t help matters
that Rahul was in imperious form to make full use of it.

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Bereft of credible
options in the dug-out, it was only natural that the tournament’s most successful
skipper Rohit Sharma looked clearly out of ideas as his ploy of playing an
extra spinner in left-arm orthodox Fabian Allen (1/46 in 4 overs) didn’t quite
work out.

Highest individual score in 100th IPL match

88*KL Rahul vs MI 2022

86 Faf du Plessis vs KKR 2021

69 D Warner vs RCB 2016

59 M Vijay vs RPS 2016         

Between overs 13 to
16, Rahul and company added 60 runs and it didn’t help their cause that the
five-time champions have had one of the worst days in the outfield, not being
able to cut the boundaries even after getting hold of the ball.

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Not having a Trent Boult,
Krual Pandya or a Rahul Chahar is hurting MI badly and getting as many as 16
middle-of-the-road players for just Rs 18 crore has not proved to be a wise
business decision so far.