Delhi Capitals (DC) batter KL Rahul anchored the DC innings to perfection against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in chase of 160 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. His unbeaten 42-ball 57 came at a time when his side was looking to consolidate on a quick start given by the DC openers. While Karun Nair departed for 15, his partner Abishek Porel scored 51 off 36 balls and stitched a 69-run partnership with Rahul to put Delhi Capitals in the driver's seat before the India star, along with DC captain Axar Patel (34*), finished things off in style in 17.5 overs. With that win, Delhi held on to their No.2 position in the points table while LSG found themselves placed fifth, below Punjab Kings, who have a superior net run-rate and have also played a match less than LSG.

En route to his composed fifty, Rahul achieved a historic milestone by becoming the fastest player to reach 5000 runs in the IPL. The DC dug out looked visibly ecstatic after the win, and Rahul's milestone was celebrated inside the dressing room following the 8-wicket comprehensive win against Lucknow, with head coach Hemang Badani announcing the historic feat in front of his mates and the entire support staff.

“As someone said, there’s only one number one, KL Rahul. Congratulations on 5000 IPL runs," said Badani while presenting a memento. But Rahul had other ideas. He signalled to Badani to let former England captain Kevin Pietersen give him the award, adding one more episode to the sitcom.

It all started with Pietersen stating that watching Rahul bat is like watching paint dry on a wall in one of his earlier tweets. Guess what - Rahul seemed not to have forgotten a word of that tweet and reminded the former England captain of the same after scoring another match-winning 77 off 51 balls against Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

"It's better than watching the paint of the wall dry. Exactly. That was your tweet about me one day," KL Rahul told Pietersen.

"Did I say that? Well, I am glad you've changed your game," Pietersen, visibly embarrassed, replied.

Following DC's win, Pietersen, who is working with the Delhi franchise as the mentor this season, took a break and flew to the Maldives for a holiday. After joining the squad, Rahul once again took a playful dig at Pietersen during one of the practice sessions in Ahmedabad. Ahead of the game against the Gujarat Titans (GT), Pietersen jokingly told GT captain Shubman Gill that no one knows what a mentor is, and Rahul was quick to take that opportunity to go one up.

"Mentor is someone who goes to the Maldives for two weeks mid-season," Rahul stated, keeping the roast session alive.

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