Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) defeated Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 10 runs in match number 26 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Wednesday.
IPL 2023: Rajasthan Royals vs Lucknow Super Giants – HIGHLIGHTS
Yashasvi Jaiswal (44) and Jos Buttler (40) provided a stable start to the RR chase. But with wickets falling at crucial junctions of the game, Marcus Stoinis and Avesh Kha shared the scalps to help LSG get the win.
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Till the 11th over, Rajasthan didn’t lose any wicket and seemed to be cruising towards the target.
But Stoinis taking out both openers got the match in Lucknow’s favour and from there, the boundaries began to dry up as required run-rate climbed up, resulting in Rajasthan making 144/6 in their 20 overs.
Chasing 155, Jaiswal looked good after surviving an lbw decision via review on the very first ball off Naveen-ul-Haq. He drove Yudhvir Singh through cover for four and then quickly picked the short ball to pull for six.
On the other hand, Buttler, after his initial struggles, found his range by swatting Yudhvir for a 112-m massive six over deep mid-wicket. Jaiswal slashed hard at a length ball from Avesh in the final over of power-play, and the edge flew towards ul-Haq at short third man, who dropped the catch and conceded a four.
Jaiswal also hammered a drive for four, followed by Buttler pulling in the gap through the leg-side to hit the third boundary of the over. Post power-play, Rajasthan got their fifty and Buttler punched Ravi Bishnoi through the off-side on a no-ball.
After Buttler took two boundaries on reverse-sweeps off impact player Amit Mishra, Jaiswal easily dispatched Stoinis for a six over deep mid-wicket fence. But two balls later, Stoinis had the last laugh as Jaiswal hit straight to short third man for a low catch.
With the required run rate going upwards of eight, Rajasthan lost captain Sanju Samson as his desperate late dive post a mix-up left him a yard short of reaching the crease at the striker’s end.
In the 14th over, Buttler, while trying to pull off Stoinis, holed out to deep mid-wicket. Two overs later, Lucknow struck again when Shimron Hetmyer toe-ended a big heave to long-on. Devdutt Padikkal broke a spell of 31 balls without boundaries with a punch past Bishnoi for four in an over yielding only six runs.
He then took three boundaries off Stoinis in the 18th over, with the pull past deep square leg being the standout. With 29 needed off the last two balls, Riyan Parag heaved high over deep mid-wicket for six, but ul-Haq gave away only ten runs in the penultimate over.
Because of the slow-over rate, Lucknow could keep only four fielders outside the 30-yard circle in the final over. Though Parag hit the first ball for four, Avesh bounced back by having Padikkal nick behind to keeper and Dhruv Jurel holing out to long-on, thereby sealing the game in Lucknow’s favour.
Earlier, returning to their fortress after four years, Rajasthan Royals bowled with a lot of discipline to keep Lucknow Super Giants at 154 for seven in their Indian Premier League match here on Wednesday.
On a pitch not conducive for strokeplay, Kyle Mayers top-scored with 51 before Marcus Stoinis (21 off 16 balls) and Nicholas Pooran (28 off 20) helped the team cross 150.
Trent Boult bowled brilliantly to finish with figures 1-16 in four overs, while Ravichandran Ashwin was also excellent with the ball, ending with 2/23 from his four.
Seasoned New Zealander Trent Boult bowled two brilliant overs to justify RR skipper Sanju Samson’s decision to field first after winning the toss.
As Boult, one of the world’s leading seamers for more than a decade, went about his task in his usual manner, KL Rahul looked clueless and the pressure created by the crafty bowler got to the struggling LSK captain.
Unable to free his arms, Rahul ended up playing a Sandeep Sharma delivery in the air but the young Yashasvi Jaiswal fluffed the chance. He was on six at the time. After he added another six runs to his total, Rahul got another chance when Jason Holder, who normally has a safe pair of hands, dropped a skyer after running backwards from mid-off.
This was seven balls after Jaiswal had a shy at the bowler’s end and missed a run out chance with Rahul well out of crease.
Those two missed chances miffed Samson no end but RR did not have to pay a heavy price as Rahul got out for an unconvincing 32-ball 39.
Having consumed that many deliveries, Rahul would have liked to carry his bat though the RR innings, but Holder had him with a nicely executed slower ball.
After conceding only two runs in the first two overs and 13 in his third, Boult, deservedly, got on the wicket column when he knocked over Ayush Badoni’s leg stump.
The missed chances notwithstanding, the RR bowlers were parsimonious and kept LSG to 37 for no loss in the six powerplay overs on a pitch that wasn’t the best for batting.
On and off, Mayers managed to find the boundaries, including going down the ground to hit Yuzvendra Chahal over long off for a maximum in the ninth over. Four balls later, Rahul got into the act by smoking the leg-spinner for a huge six over the deep mid wicket fence.
It was a productive over LSG as they accumulated 18 runs from it. Back into the attack, the wily Ashwin gave five runs in the next over, and Holder, four, in the next including picking the wicket of Rahul, to keep LSK in check.
Boult returned to dismiss Badoni while giving away just three runs. Mayers broke the shackles with two successive fours off Chahal, before falling to Ashwin.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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