KL Rahul's top 3 knocks in the IPL vs CSK

The Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) take on the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the 34th game of IPL 2024 at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on April 19, Friday. The visiting side have an advantage over their opponents although they are a far way from home.

While LSG are ranked in the fifth position of the league table at the moment with six points to their name, CSK are perched upon the third spot with eight points inside their kitty.

LSG skipper KL Rahul, who is one of the finest batters of his generation, will be one of their key players in this clash and will be expected to carry his team's batting on his shoulders.

On that note, here is a look at the top three knocks played by him against CSK.

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#1 98* off 42 balls for the Punjab Kings in 2021

One of the finest knocks played by Rahul against CSK came while wearing PBKS colours in the 2021 season of the competition.

Played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, CSK batted first to put up a modest total of 134/6 on the board in their allotted twenty overs although Faf du Plessis top-scored with a 55-ball 76.

PBKS, in reply, chased these runs down in a mere thirteen overs, with skipper Rahul leading the way with an unbeaten 98 off just 42 balls.

He hit seven boundaries and eight sixes in this knock and took the CSK bowlers to task for every mistake that they made, either when pitching too full or bowling too short.

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#2 71 off 36 balls for Kings XI Punjab in 2019

KL Rahul in training with LSG. [LSG]

Rahul's second-best knock against CSK came at the PCA Stadium in Mohali in IPL 2019.

CSK batted first on this occasion as well and put up a more than decent total of 170/5 on the board, with Faf du Plessis (again) scoring 96 and Suresh Raina contributing with a 38-ball 53.

Sam Curran was the most successful bowler for the Kings with a three-wicket haul. In the second innings, Rahul opened the innings with Chris Gayle; while the latter struggled to get going, the former tore into the CSK bowlers.

He ended with a 36-ball 71 which included 7 boundaries and five sixes. In a game that the Kings ended up winning by six wickets, Rahul got out in the eleventh over itself, or may have gone on to score a ton.

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#3 63 off 52 balls for Kings XI Punjab in 2020

The third-best knock that Rahul played against the Chennai-based franchise was in the 2020 edition of the tournament which was played behind closed doors in the United Arab Emirates.

Batting first in Dubai, KXIP scored 178-4 in their twenty overs, with Rahul taking some time to get going. He eventually ended up with 63 off 52 balls at a strike rate of 121.

His knock included seven boundaries and a solitary six. In response, however, CSK bludgeoned over the KXIP bowling attack and chased these runs down in a mere 17.4 overs without even losing a wicket.

Shane Watson (83*) and Faf du Plessis (87*) showcased that they needed no help from the other batters in the lineup to chase this stiff target.