On Saturday, KL Rahul achieved a major milestone during an IPL 2026 match between Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. To begin with, Delhi Capitals won the toss and chose to bat first. Soon after, Rahul opened the innings along with Pathum Nissanka, and both batters started confidently.
As the innings progressed, KL Rahul needed only 12 runs to go past MS Dhoni in the list of highest run-scorers in the Indian Premier League.
KL Rahul achieves major milestone
Interestingly, Rahul received a lifeline earlier in the innings. In the third over, he mistimed a shot off a delivery from Arshdeep Singh. The ball went high in the air towards the boundary, and Shashank Singh positioned himself for a simple catch.
However, he dropped the ball near the rope. As a result, the ball touched the ground and rolled for a boundary. Consequently, Rahul not only survived, yet also reached the historic milestone with that four.
At that moment, Rahul had 5,427 runs, while Dhoni stood at 5,439 runs from 278 matches. Eventually, Rahul crossed the mark and moved to sixth place, reaching the milestone in just 152 matches.
Where KL Rahul stands among legends
At present, the IPL run-scoring chart is led by Indian legend Virat Kohli, who has scored 8,989 runs in 274 matches.
Following him is Rohit Sharma with 7,183 runs in 276 matches. Meanwhile, Rahul now eyes the next spot, which belongs to Suresh Raina with 5,528 runs. Therefore, if Rahul continues his current form, the 32-year-old batter may soon climb even higher in the rankings.
To understand his growth, Rahul began his IPL career in 2013 with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for a base price of INR 10 lakhs. Over the years, the Karanataka batter has represented teams such as Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Punjab Kings, and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). Currently, he plays for Delhi Capitals.
In addition, Delhi Capitals bought him for ₹14 crore in IPL 2025. Since then, he has delivered consistent performances. For example, he scored 539 runs in 13 matches last season with an impressive strike rate of 149.72. Furthermore, he has crossed the 500-run mark in five out of the last six seasons.
KL Rahul’s performance in IPL 2026
At the start of IPL 2026, Rahul faced a slow beginning with low scores in the first two matches. After that, he regained his rhythm and started scoring freely. So far, he has accumulated over 200 runs in six matches, maintaining a healthy average and a strong strike rate of over 166.
Moreover, Rahul has worked on improving his scoring speed, which has often been discussed in the past. Recently, he played a match-winning knock of 57 runs against RCB. Soon after, he contributed another valuable innings against SRH.
![KL Rahul and MS Dhoni [Source: AP Photos and AFP]](https://onecricketnews.akamaized.net/parth-editor/oc-dashboard/news-images-prod/1777113993295_MS dhoni and KL Rahul.jpg)
KL Rahul and MS Dhoni [Source: AP Photos and AFP]
