Key Points

Rahul accomplished the feat during Delhi Capitals' eight-wicket triumph against his former franchise, Lucknow Super Giants, on Tuesday at the Ekana Cricket Stadium. Rahul played the anchor's role and ensured the Capitals cruised to victory with consummate ease.

He notched up 57* to break the backbone of Lucknow's defence of a modest 160-run target and became the fastest to 5000 IPL runs. He achieved the feat in 130 innings, bettering former Australian opener David Warner's 135. Royal Challengers Bengaluru's batting maestro Virat Kohli slipped to the third spot in the list, having achieved the feat in 157 innings.

Overall, he became the eighth player to enter the 5000-run club in the tournament after Virat (8,326), Rohit (6,786), Shikhar Dhawan (6,769), Warner (6,565), Suresh Raina (5,528), MS Dhoni (5,377) and AB de Villiers (5,162). In IPL, Rahul boasts a staggering 5,006 runs in 139 matches at a stellar average of 46.35, laced with 40 fifties and four centuries.

Rahul instilled a sense of calmness when he arrived at the crease when DC were reeling at 36/1 in 3.4 overs. He welcomed Avesh Khan with a sublime shot to find the boundary ripe. He infused a sense of aggression with Abhishek Porel and raised a 69-run partnership for the second wicket.

He flexed his boundary-hitting nerve in the 11th over and slog-swept the ball past the boundary rope for an 86-metre maximum over mid-wicket. On the first ball of the next over, he danced around the crease, got close to the pitch of the delivery and clobbered it over the bowler's head for a six.

On the first ball of the 18th over, he pushed the ball away and sprinted for a single to bring up his 40th half-century in the cash-rich league. He finished the game in style by pulling the ball away over mid-wicket for a maximum and sealing an 8-wicket victory for the Capitals.

- ANI