KL Rahul etched his name in the history books during the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) clash between Delhi Capitals (DC) and Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Sunday (May 18) in a vital match for his team's hopes of reaching the playoffs.

Rahul's batting position was once again shuffled as he returned the opening spot. The 33-year-old walked out to open the batting for only the second time this season after playing seven innings at number four and twice at number three.

Rahul had previously opened the batting for DC against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and won the Player of the Match (POTM) award for a knock of 77 in 51 balls as the Axar Patel-led side won the match by 25 runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai last month.

Rahul made an unbeaten knock of 112 in 65 balls to register his fifth IPL century and help DC score a massive total of 199 on the board.

Through the course of his knock, Rahul etched his name in the history books by completing 8000 runs in T20 cricket. Rahul completed the huge feat in his 224th innings and beat Virat Kohli's long-standing record to become the fastest Indian to reach the milestone. In world cricket, the Indian star is the third quickest behind Chris Gayle (213) and Babar Azam (218).

Fastest Indian to 8000 T20 Runs (by Innings)

Player	Innings	Year reached
KL Rahul	224	2026
Virat Kohli	244	2019
Shikhar Dhawan	277	2021

KL Rahul's World Record

Among a total of 36 players to score more than 8000 runs in T20 cricket, only four players have done it at an average of 40. Only Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan have a better average than him. Rahul and Kohli are the only players with an average above 40 and strike-rate above 130. Rahul has both a better average and a strike-rate than the Indian batting great. Infact, he is the only player with an average of above 40 and strike-rate above 135.

Strike-Rate Of Players With 40+ Average And 8000 Runs In T20 Cricket

Player	Runs	Average	Strike-Rate
KL Rahul	8079	42.75	136.53
Virat Kohli	13391	41.97	134.52
Babar Azam	11314	43.18	129.34
Mohammad Rizwan	8421	42.96	125.84

KL Rahul's Rare IPL Feat

Rahul created history at the Kotla by becoming the first player in IPL history to score a century with three different IPL teams. Before his maiden ton with the Capitals, he scored two centuries each with Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Lucknow Super Giants.

Previously, Chris Gayle, Shane Watson, David Warner, Ab de Villiers, Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Adam Gilchrist, Virender Sehwag, Brendon McCullum and Quinton de Kock scored tons for two teams.

Rahul is only the third player in the IPL to score a century against the Gujarat Titans (GT) after Suryakumar Yadav and Will Jacks. He also now has the highest individual score against the 2022 champions.

Rahul is the fifth player in IPL 2025 to score a century after Ishan Kishan, Priyansh Arya, Abhishek Sharma, and Vaibhav Suryavanshi and the first right-hander.

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