Lucknow: Rajasthan Royals (RR) sealed a remarkable 7-wicket victory over Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) powered by an unbeaten and blistering 121-run partnership between Sanju Samson and Dhruv Jurel at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Saturday in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.
RR captain Samson scored the highest for RR with an unbeaten 71 off 33 while Jurel played a blistering knock of 52 runs in 34 deliveries. Chasing a target of 197, openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler got Rajasthan Royals off to a flying start in the powerplay. LSG bowlers missed their mark and were further broken apart due to multiple dropped catches.
Earlier in the first innings, Half-centuries from KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda propelled Lucknow Super Giants to a total of 196/5 against Rajasthan Royals. Captain KL Rahul led from the front with a commanding 76, supported by Deepak Hooda’s impressive 50. Despite early setbacks caused by the Royals’ pacers Trent Boult and Sandeep Sharma, who dismissed Quinton de Kock and Marcus Stoinis for 8 and 0 respectively, Rahul and Hooda’s partnership stabilized the innings and set a challenging target against RR.
After winning the toss RR captain Sanju Samson said, “We will bowl first. Looks like a decent wicket to bowl, but no guarantees. This season has been a bit different, some extra days in between games, that gives us time to rest and recover. We’re playing the same team. IPL has been completely different, it’s normal to get carried away looking at other teams, but the talk in our camp is to stay with the flow, we have been playing some good cricket and we need to continue doing so. I don’t need to talk to him, he’s been a top professional and has a big role in our plans (on Ravi Ashwin).”
LSG skipper KL Rahul at the toss said, “The wicket is good, there’s not much dew in Lucknow and the wicket will play well for the entire 40 overs. We’ll need to play some good cricket. It’s nice to get past 200, every team would like to do so, but the dimensions of this ground favours the bowlers a bit more and we’ve enjoyed it. No changes for us. Every player goes through a bit of time like that when you can’t get runs ( asked about Padikkal’s form). He looks good in the nets and he’ll have to stay positive, you saw last night when Jonny came back after getting dropped and then getting a hundred.”
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson(w/c), Rovman Powell, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal
Lucknow Super Giants (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul(w/c), Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Matt Henry, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Yash Thakur
