Captain KL Rahul smashed an unbeaten 98 off 42 balls and helped Punjab Kings retain slim Indian Premier League playoff hopes after beating Chennai Super Kings by six wickets on Thursday.
Punjab sat fifth in the standings, and to make the top four needed Kolkata Knight Riders to lose heavily to Rajasthan Royals late Thursday and defending champions Mumbai Indians to lose its last group game against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday.
Despite defeat on Thursday, Chennai was certain to finish among the top two.
Tournament top-scorer Rahul just missed a maiden century in this IPL but hammered eight sixes and seven boundaries to overhaul Chennai’s 134-6 with 139-4 and seven overs to spare. Punjab moved ahead of Mumbai on net run rate.
Rahul has hit six half-centuries and scored 626 runs at an impressive average of 62.60 in the tournament.
Fast bowlers Deepak Chahar (1-48) and Dwayne Bravo (0-32) were smacked for 80 runs off six overs as Rahul unleashed an array of shots.
However, Chahar ended his day on a good note when he proposed to his girlfriend and she said yes.
His sister Malti Chahar was delighted after her brother proposed to his girlfriend.
Deepak had posted the picture of the special moment on his official Instagram account. “Picture says it all. Need all your blessings. #taken,” he captioned the post. His sister then shared the post on her story and wrote, “That moment. And my brother is taken.”