After a lean start to his season, KL Rahul is back. Back to the form that saw him pile 659 runs last season at a monstrous average of 54.91, but this time, even better.

Through nine games this season, Rahul has scored 387 runs at an average of 64.50, leading the charge for the Shers with the bat. Having finished third in last season’s race for the Orange Cap, Rahul trails only David Warner this season and remains firmly in the hunt to finish the season as the league’s top run-scorer.

Since his match-winning 71 against the Mumbai Indians in the Shers’ third match of the campaign, Rahul’s has been a class above the rest of the league. In his last seven outings, Rahul has smashed 382 runs with four fifties and a statement century against MI at the Wankhede Stadium, his first in the VIVO Indian Premier League.

Rahul, who was named in the World Cup squad, also created history during this purple patch, as he became only the seventh player in KXIP history to score 1,000 runs for the team in the IPL and the opener needed only 23 matches to reach that mark, with only Shaun Marsh reaching that mark quicker(21) for the Shers.

The birthday boy’s form has been one of the primary reasons why KXIP have accumulated 10 points with six games left in the season, and if the Mangalore-native continues in this rich vein of form with the bat, odds are he’ll be donning an Orange Cap at the end of the campaign.