Rajasthan Royals got back to winnings ways with a thrilling 3-run victory over Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday at Wankhede Stadium. A fiery half-century followed by a collective bowling performance from Rajasthan were too good for Rahul’s Lucknow as their batting unit failed to chase a tricky target of 166. They needed 15 runs from the final over but young Kuldeep Sen kept his nerves and defended that in front of Marcus Stoinis with three back-to-back dot balls.
Yuzvendra Chahal and Trent Boult didn’t allow Lucknow batters to settle in the middle as they picked wickets at regular intervals to put the opposition under pressure throughout the chase. Chahal claimed a four-wicket haul to complete his 150 wickets in IPL.
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While it was Boult who rocked LSG’s chase early by getting the better of their captain KL Rahul on the first ball of the innings. Boult with an absolute ‘Jaffa’ broke entered the gap between Rahul’s bat and pads to destroy his stumps. It was ideal delivery for any fast bowler as the ball landed slightly outside off stump and moved in as the Lucknow captain attempted the flick shot which opened a huge gap between bat and pads and a few seconds later he was walking back towards the pavilion.
Boult didn’t stop there as he then dismissed Krishnappa Gowtham on the very next legal delivery with another sharp inswinger but this time the batter was trapped plumb in front of the wicket.
While Prasidh Krishna dismissed Jason Holder on 8 as Lucknow lost three wickets for just 13 and they failed to recover from it.
Marcus Stoinis gave them a little hope in the final overs with 38 runs off 17 balls but it wasn’t enough for Lucknow. Apart from him, opener Quinton de Kock also scored a valuable 39 runs to take the game closer.
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Earlier, Shimron Hetmyer smashed an unbeaten fifty as Rajasthan Royals recovered from a mid-innings slump to post 165 for six.
Hetmyer, who was dropped at 15 by Krunal Pandya, lived up to his Rs 8.50 crore price tag as he blasted six maximums and a four in his unbeaten 36-ball 59 to lift RR to a decent score at the Wankhede stadium.
Jos Buttler and Devdutt Padikkal added 42 runs in the first five overs but they lost three wickets in a 15-ball burst to be reduced to 67 for four at one stage.
Hetmyer and Ravichandran Ashwin then rebuild the innings with a 68-run stand off 51 balls before the latter was strategically retired out by the RR camp in the slog overs.
The West Indian paced his innings well before going for the shots at the back end.
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