Ranji Trophy semis: KL Rahul shines with twin 50-plus scores
What's the story
Star Indian opener KL Rahul continues to shine in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2025/26 knockouts. After scoring a hundred against Uttarakhand in the semi-final at Ekana Cricket Stadium, Rahul scored a clutch second-innings half-century. The Karnataka ace helped his side set a massive 827-run target on the final day. Karnataka earlier took a first-innings lead of 503 runs. Here are the key stats.
Knock
Rahul's middle-order knock
In the second innings, Rahul came at No. 6 when Karnataka were down to 122/4. He added a 168-run stand with Ravichandran Smaran to regain impetus. While Smaran departed with a counter-attacking ton, Rahul returned unbeaten on 86. His 103-ball knock had 5 fours and 5 sixes. With his hand, Karnataka raced to 323 in the third innings.
Information
Century in first innings
In a high-scoring first innings, Rahul hammered 141 off 211 balls, hitting 11 fours and 5 sixes. A double-century from Devdutt Padikkal and Smaran's ton powered Karnataka to 736. In response, Uttarakhand perished for 233.
Stats
A look at his FC stats
Rahul now has 42 half-centuries and 25 tons in First-Class cricket. He earlier scored a brilliant century in the quarter-final against Mumbai. Notably, Rahul had returned to the Karnataka Ranji side in its last group match against Punjab, where he scored a half-century. Playing his 120th FC game, Rahul has raced to 8,984 runs at over 44.
Tests
His Test numbers
As many as 4,053 of Rahul's FC runs have come in Test cricket at 35.86. He has smoked 11 tons and 20 fifties across 67 matches. Notably, 10 of his tons have come as an opener. Only Sunil Gavaskar (33), Virender Sehwag (22), and Murali Vijay (12) have more hundreds than Rahul while opening for India in Tests.