Photo credit: BCCI/IPLT20.com

It was an evening Lokesh Rahul won’t forget soon. He was in the touch of his life against Delhi Daredevils and made full use of the form he struck to race away to the fastest Indian Premier League half century of all time.

Rahul demolished the Delhi bowling and dispatched the bowlers to all parts of the ground. It took him just three balls to read the pitch, after which he went berserk, being particularly severe on Amit Mishra, who he dispatched for 24 runs in a single over. He also became the first batsman to score a fifty inside the first 3 overs of a match in the process.

Do you plan an innings like that?

Lokesh Rahul: I believe it is hard to plan such an innings. I went in there and just took off. I was watching the ball and getting into good positions and things went well for me so I’m happy.

Is the general goal though to be particularly aggressive up front?

LR: It’s a short format. Everybody has to be aggressive and it’s the openers’ responsibility to get the team off to a great start. On a wicket like this, which tends to get slower and hard to score on in the back end of the innings, you try to be aggressive up front with the new ball and try to get as many runs as you can so that the lower order doesn’t have to chase more than 8-9 runs an over. That was the plan and I’m glad it came off.

Will this aggression muddle your vision when you go into the next game?

LR: Not really. Look, I will go for a game with the same mindset every time. It was just my day, I was striking the ball really well so it’s important to forget this innings and carry the confidence but not the form into the next game. If you carry the form you get overconfident, I don’t want to do that. I want to keep it simple and keep striking the ball.

How good does it feel good to hold the record for the fastest IPL fifty?

LR: For years I have been branded as a Test cricketer so it’s good for me to be creating history and breaking records. So yeah, I feel happy and hopefully I can continue this way.