KL Rahul on Thursday played a memorable knock for Delhi Capitals against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. The former RCB player slammed 93* off 53 balls and helped DC recover from to 30/3 in 4.3 overs to chase down a 164-run target in 17.5 overs in Bengaluru. After the win, Karnataka-born Rahul celebrated aggressively indicating ‘this is my ground’. A video from the match is going viral where the two teams can be seen doing the customary handshakes. In the video, KL Rahul can be seen shakings hands with Suyash Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Virat Kohli, Phil Salt. Just when Rahul was shaking hands with Salt, RCB captain Rajat Patidar was also present but he walked straight ahead. After that Rahul went on to shake hands with Krunal Pandya and Tum David. 

Some social media users saw the act as clear snub by Patidar. 

Patidar Ignored KL Rahul

This guy Rajat Patidar should learn some manners pic.twitter.com/lSpKuUhNRe

— KL’sGIRL (@Silverglohss_1) April 11, 2025

Rajat patidar ignored KL rahul?
pic.twitter.com/FQoeeYcYzN

— Viraj Rk17 (@VirajRk17) April 11, 2025

From being panned as a stat-padder, who lacked intent from the word go to being a toast of tricky chases, KL Rahul has turned the wheels in a manner only a batter blessed with skill-set as his can.

He printed the latest blueprint of his growth chart with an unbeaten 93 off 53 balls at a strike-rate of 175 on a gripping Chinnaswamy pitch to fashion Delhi Capitals’s six-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Tim David (185) and Phil Salt (210) made runs at a higher strike-rate but through brute force and the readiness to travel on riskier routes either at Power Play or at the death overs.

But Rahul’s fifty was smoothly paced — from a cautious 29 off 29 balls, the right-hander made the remaining 64 runs off just 24 balls on Thursday.

It’s easy to term the innings as a product of his first-hand knowledge of the local conditions as a Karnataka boy. It might have played a part but that is just one chapter of the story.

The Capitals are trying to weave their batting around Rahul, and it is partly because of his technical adaptability.

On Thursday night, Rahul showed DC’s faith on him is not misplaced while nullifying a competent set of bowlers.

Even during the sedate initial period, there was no hint of struggle as it was very evident that he had judged the character of the track to the T and was waiting for the right moment to unleash himself.

It came in the 15th over bowled by Josh Hazlewood. Rahul punished the pacer for 22 runs in that over, including three fours and a six.

It decisively swung the momentum in Delhi’s favour, but none of those shots were hit in anger.

Even the six that sailed over Hazlewood’s head was the outcome of a beautifully poised open-faced bat, a classic method to reduce the possibility of edges or false shots on such pitches.

Just to compare, his top-order colleagues Jake-Fraser McGurk, Faf du Plessis and Abhishek Porel went for cross-batted swipes to get caught as the innate slowness of the surface did not allow them to time the shots well.

RCB’s mentor Dinesh Karthik appreciated the way Rahul played his knock, particularly because the 32-year-old is still a floater through the batting line-up in whichever team he plays.

“It’s a very challenging to bat at different positions in T20. But he’s done that really nicely in the recent past. I’ve believed he’s a high-quality middle-order batter. He’s tweaked a bit,” said Karthik.

With PTI inputs 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)