KL Rahul brought the heat during the Punjab Kings’ final match of the 2021 season of the Indian Premier League against Chennai Super Kings. Having opened the innings for his squad, the skipper remained unbeaten till the end, while scoring a stormy 98 off just 45 deliveries to lead his side to an incredible victory.

Over the course of his innings, Rahul smashed seven 4s and eight incredible 6s while managing to get his half-century in just 25 balls.

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The leading run-scorer of the league and the current orange-cap holder, Rahul ensured that nobody would take away this achievement from him as his 98-run performance boosted his overall runs for the season to a mighty 626, which is 80 more runs than Faf du Plessis at the second spot and 93 runs more than Ruturaj Gaikwad at the third spot.

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Batting with an unreal average of 62.60 runs and a strike rate of 138.80 for the entire season, the Bengaluru star once again proved his mettle as an ace batter, before potentially signing off for the year since PBKS are likely to miss the playoffs once again.

If PBKS do not move ahead, the 2021 season of the IPL will happen to be Punjab’s seventh year in a row of missing out on a chance to make it into the final four. Out of these seven years, only the last two would be under the captaincy of the batter.

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Therefore, many feel that it is not the players who are at fault but the team management and the coaching staff who have failed to capitalise on the various opportunities despite having some of the biggest names of Indian cricket like Mayank Agarwal, Mohammed Shami and Rahul, himself in the squad.

So when PBKS co-owner Preity Zinta tweeted congratulating the skipper for his superb innings, the fans simply overlooked the friendly message and begged the actress to release him ahead of the mega auction for the 2022 season.

Finally a game up to our potential What a knock by sadda captain @klrahul11 #CSKvsPBKS @PunjabKingsIPL @IPL pic.twitter.com/bNcWlOdFOa

— Preity G Zinta (@realpreityzinta) October 7, 2021

“Finally a game up to our potential Fisted hand What a knock by sadda captain @klrahul11 #CSKvsPBKS @PunjabKingsIPL @IPL,” Zinta tweeted after the match while sharing a picture with the batter himself.

Here’s how the fans reacted:

Ma'am please release him or make him the boss. Kind request

— Ricky talks cricket (@CricRicky) October 7, 2021

Firstly remove Kumble and make Andy Flower the main boss.

— Abhishek Hanbar (@abhi_ph17) October 7, 2021

Pls change the entire management & coaching team

They can't even select a proper 11 after 2 seasons

Also messed up auctions by buying unwanted players for crores..#PBKS have a good indian core...

Make a good team out of them by picking right overseas players

— Universe BOSS (@gayle_boss) October 7, 2021

Don't you guys dare retain him next season, wasted 2 years of his KLassy batting!

— ° (@anubhav__tweets) October 7, 2021

Mam abki baar coach, management sab badlo_ par auction main ek mast team bnao.
Humein trophy chahiye
U need a Trophy too
Kabtak aise chalega

— ; (@NautiyalG___) October 7, 2021

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