(ESPNCRICINFO) – KL RAHUL blasted the IPL’s fastest half-century to give Kings XI Punjab a rousing start to their 2018 IPL campaign. Rahul razed the Daredevils attack in a brutal performance, getting to the landmark inside three overs and off just 14 balls.

Incongruously, though, Kings XI ended up huffing and puffing to their target of 167. After Rahul’s dismissal, Kings XI only managed 103 runs in 84 balls. But such had been the damage inflicted by Rahul that they still ended up winning with seven balls to spare.
All that after Gautam Gambhir, the Daredevils captain, celebrated his return to his hometown franchise with a fighting half-century. But Kings XI’s spin duo of R Ashwin and the 17-year old debutant Mujeeb Ur Rahman led a strong bowling performance to restrict Daredevils to a total that was just about par.

Mujeeb’s instant reward
At 17 years and 11 days, Mujeeb became the IPL’s youngest-ever player. Mujeeb has all the qualities that underline an effective limited-overs spinner: his variations keep the batsmen guessing, he can be deceptive with his trajectory, and his unusual action makes it difficult to pick him out of the hand.

Colin Munro tends to struggle against spin in the Powerplay– he has fallen to them four times in 17 innings during this phase in T20s. After opening with himself, Ashwin introduced Mujeeb in the third over. Munro took zero time to try and suss out the newcomer, getting down for a switch hit to the first ball he faced from him. Mujeeb’s drift from around the stumps got Munro into a tangle, and trapped him plumb in front. Daredevils were 12 for 1 in the third over.