The 30-year-old leg-spinner said watching Yuzvendra Chahal and Sundar bowl during RCB's thumping 82-run win over KKR a few days before helped him find the right length at the same small Sharjah ground.
Royals Challengers Bangalore will start as overwhelming favourites against bottom-placed Kings XI.
Royal Challengers Bangalore's Chris Gayle may have flopped one more time but bowling hero Chris Jordan on Saturday said the big-hitting opener is just one good innings away from regaining his touch in the Indian Premier League.
Strangely, despite four wins on the trot, none of India's players have even figured in the top 20 of the MVPI table.
Rahul said that winning the Ranji Trophy during the 2013-14 season has to be his favourite cricket moment while playing for Karnataka.
Images from Saturday's Indian Premier League match between Kings XI Punjab and SunRisers Hyderabad, in Dubai.
Images from the World cup Group B match between India and the West Indies, in Perth.
Mumbai Indians produced a clinical performance to beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 18 runs in a high-scoring affair and register their maiden win in this year's Indian Premier League in Bengaluru.
Kings XI Punjab are likely to continue with the captain and coach combine of K L Rahul and Anil Kumble for next year despite finishing sixth in the 2020 Indian Premier League.
Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli smashed his maiden T20 hundred in an Indian Premier League match against Gujarat Lions in Rajkot on Sunday but he said he was not feeling after ending up on the losing side.
With Punjab making a meal of the chase, MI recorded a win and two points, thanks to main man Pollard.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have a chance to cement their status as two of the best to play the 20-over format.
The Australia vice-captain struggled in the four-Test series in India preceding the IPL but has been at his attacking best in the Twenty20 tournament, where he has registered back-to-back 600-plus run seasons.
Desperate to break their title jinx, Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore will be hoping for a positive start to their campaign in the ninth edition of the Indian Premier League, when they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad, in Bengaluru, on Tuesday.
Dale Steyn, Ishant Sharma, Joe Root, Hashim Amla and Lasith Malinga were among the big names who went unsold at the IPL auction.
Here is a look at the team that will open its campaign against Rajasthan Royals in Mumbai on April 12.
Royal Challengers Bangalore got back to winning ways after they squeezed past Delhi Daredevils by 15 runs on a batsman-friendly wicket in their Indian Premier League match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday.
West Indies must find a way to turn the undoubted talent in their ranks into consistent performances that will win Test series, former fast bowler Curtly Ambrose said on Thursday.
Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins shattered the record for the most expensive foreign buy ever in the IPL auction as Kolkata Knight Riders bought him for a massive Rs 15.50 crore.
Meanwhile, the Board has given the names of Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik as India's representatives in the World XI team that will play West Indies in a charity Twenty20 match at the Lord's on May 31.
He had redefined ODI batting almost three decades back but Sir Vivian Richards' favourite ODI batsman is none other than the legendary Sachin Tendulkar.
Virat Kohli has 3794 runs in T20 Internationals, 927 of those have come in T20 World Cups, the third-highest by a batter in the competition.
Chasing 162 for a win, Delhi got out to rash shots to eventually fold up at 151 in the last over.
Hazratullah Zazai (162 not out off 62) and Usman Ghani (73 off 48) set a new record for the opening-wicket partnership with a 236-run stand as Afghanistan surpassed Australia's 263 for 3 posted against Sri Lanka at Pallekele in 2016.
Images from Monday's IPL match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab, in Hyderabad.
Rahul, who averaged 44 in last year's IPL, was ruled out of the ongoing IPL season as well as from the Champions Trophy after sustaining the shoulder injury during the four-match Test series against Australia in March.
Harish Kotian/Rediff.com comes up with a pretty strong playing eleven from the long list of big names warming the benches this IPL season.
Once again, RCB are looking on course to finish without a trophy after losing six out of their first seven games.
"Stunning day at the beach with the boys," Kohli posted
In recent weeks we have reflected, and acknowledge that black players and fans, who have contributed so much to the history of our game, now feel disenfranchised. They do not feel as if cricket is a game for them. This must change.'
Pumped up after a thrilling win over the smooth-sailing Chennai Super Kings, defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders will take on the resurgent Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Kieron Pollard scripted Mumbai Indian's sensational four-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore with a blistering 70-run knock which overshadowed Samuel Badree's hat-trick in an Indian Premier League game, in Bengaluru, on Friday.
Indian opener Rohit Sharma, who is yet to make a noteworthy contribution in the ongoing World T20, wants to use the home-ground advantage in his stride and deliver in front of his home fans against the West Indies to take his side into the final. "Playing here in front of my home crowd will be excellent, we're looking forward to it," said the Mumbai and Indian batsman. "We've played good cricket overall. I'm sure it's just going to be what people of India will be expecting us to do. "People follow the sport like crazy. They want their team to win, they want to come out and support no matter what, which is good to see. All the venues we've played at we've got tremendous support. It's our responsibility to [win] for them and make them happy," Rohit said. India's rivals the West Indies, meanwhile, were unbeaten till its final group game when it came up against a spirited Afghanistan. Rohit, who has 45 runs from four games in the tournament so far, is fully aware of the kind of threat Darren Sammy's men posses with T20 specialists power-hitters and all-rounders in their rank.
IMAGES from the 2nd ODI played between West Indies and India at Port-of-Spain in Trinidad on Sunday
West Indies number 11 Jason Holder smashed 14 runs off the final over to earn his side a dramatic tie with Pakistan in the third one-day international at Beausejour Stadium in St Lucia on Friday.
GMR's team will be based in Johannesburg with young Protea paceman Kagiso Rabada as its marquee player while Khan's outfit will be based in Cape Town with left-handed batsman JP Duminy as the marquee player.
Shami will be given adequate rest in between matches, said Kings XI Punjab coach Mike Hesson
Images from Tuesday's IPL match between Delhi Capitals and Kings XI Punjab, in Dubai.
Injury-hit RCB and Delhi look to outshine each other.
