Indian star batter KL Rahul has achieved a major milestone in the IPL, becoming the fastest player to reach 5,000 runs, surpassing the previous record held by Australian opener David Warner.
Rahul’s excellent form in the ongoing season continued on Tuesday. Batting at No. 3 against the Lucknow Super Giants, he needed just 51 runs to reach the landmark. He went on to score an unbeaten 57 off 42 balls, helping Delhi Capitals chase down a target of 160 with 8 wickets to spare.
With this innings, Rahul now has 5,006 runs in just 130 IPL innings—breaking Warner’s record, which took 135 innings to hit the same mark. Rahul did it five innings quicker.
The next names on the list for fastest to 5,000 runs in IPL are Virat Kohli (157 innings), AB de Villiers (161), and Shikhar Dhawan (168).
At 32, Rahul has now moved up to 8th on the list of IPL’s all-time top run-scorers, overtaking Robin Uthappa and Chris Gayle. His IPL tally includes 4 centuries and 50 half-centuries.
Rahul has played for five different teams throughout his 12-year IPL career. He debuted in 2013 for Royal Challengers Bangalore and played the next season for Sunrisers Hyderabad. After a less impactful stint there, he returned to RCB in 2016 and scored 397 runs in 14 matches—marking the start of his rise.
In the 2018 auction, he was picked up by Punjab Kings for ₹11 crore and played for them until 2021, ending up as their all-time highest run-scorer. From 2022 to 2024, he represented Lucknow Super Giants.
In last November’s mega auction, Delhi Capitals signed him for ₹14 crore. So far in the current season, he has scored 323 runs in 7 innings at an average of 64.60 and a strike rate of 153.81. His highest score this season is an unbeaten 93.
