IPL 2018, KXIP vs DD - 4 milestones achieved during the match

Kings XI Punjab had a victorious start to the 11th edition of the Indian Premier League, as they defeated Delhi Daredevils after successfully chasing the target of 167 with six wickets in hand.

It was a pretty comfortable end to the game in Mohali, with David Miller and Marcus Stoinis playing non-aggressive 20+ run cameos to seal the win.

In this article, we take a look at the four records that were set during the match.

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#4 Ravichandran Ashwin makes his IPL captaincy debut

Ravichandran Ashwin had the world talking about him today evening, with the debut of his wrist spin.

His bowling action, while bowling those leg-spinners, was reminiscent of the action of the great Anil Kumble.

While he had a successful outing as the bowler, with figures of 1/23 in his quota of four overs, he had an impressive captaincy debut as well as he led his team to a victory in the first match of their campaign.

Of all the players that have captained an IPL side, Ashwin took the most number of matches before taking on the responsibility, as he had played a total of 111 IPL matches prior to today’s match.

On a personal note, Ashwin will be hoping to make it back into the limited overs setup with the Indian national team, with a new leg-spinning delivery in his armory.

#3 Mujeeb ur Rahman becomes the youngest IPL debutant

Mujeeb got his maiden wicket on his third ball!

If the surprise acquisition of Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb ur Rahman during the auction wasn’t enough, Kings XI Punjab made another one by handing the 17-year old spinner a debut in the very first match of the campaign.

At 17 years and 11 days of age, Rahman became the youngest player to make a debut in the IPL, beating the record set by RCB youngster Sarfaraz Khan (17 years and 177 days).

He surely had an impressive debut, getting his maiden wicket in his third delivery in the form of Colin Munro, and finishing with figures of 2/28 in his quota of four overs.

He bowled during all the phases of the game - inside the powerplay, during the middle overs, and also showed immense maturity to finish off his quota during the death overs.

With Rashid Khan proving pivotal for Sunrisers last season, could another Afghanistan player in Mujeeb ur Rahman prove to be the trump card that Punjab were looking for?

#2 Gautam Gambhir scores his 36th IPL fifty

Gautam Gambhir on his way to his 36th IPL fifty

It was all about emotions as the return of Gautam Gambhir to Delhi Daredevils started out on a bright note as his well-timed half-century helped Delhi post a respectable total on the board for his bowlers to defend.

However, you could sense that DD was short by about 15 runs, as the lack of support from the middle order avoided DD from reaching 180 after that bright start.

He still showed immense fight on the field but fell a tad short of avoiding a defeat in the season opener.

But he would be happy with his batting performance as he went on to score his 36th IPL fifty, and went on joint-top alongside David Warner.

With Warner’s year-long suspension owing to his role in the Sandpaper Gate, surely Gambhir will make this record his own sooner rather than later.

#1 KL Rahul scores the fastest IPL fifty

KL Rahul scored the fastest-ever IPL fifty

It was the Rahulstorm (yes, a bad rip-off of Gaylestorm, but perhaps this would become a term soon?) time at Mohali.

There were some doubts lingering over his wicket-keeping abilities, and amidst all the action from Ashwin and Rahman during the first innings, Rahul’s work behind the stumps was one to monitor. He didn’t make any glaring mistakes, as such and did a fine job in the first innings.

A few minutes later, however, it was the time for the chase, and KL Rahul made sure that it was his name being talked about at the end of the match.

He just took 14 deliveries to score his half-century, improving upon the 15-ball half-centuries scored by Yusuf Pathan in 2014 and Sunil Narine in 2017.

His innings consisted of six boundaries and four sixes. He fell soon after, but not before he had helped his side wipe off nearly 40% of the target.

Karun Nair would later go on to seal the game with his ninth IPL fifty. It was an all-round performance from this Punjab unit and this performance would give hopes to the fans of KXIP.