Image Credit- BCCI
At the end of the first innings, the target of 197 set by the Lucknow Super Giants against the Rajasthan Royals might not have appeared like much. After all, targets 262 and 211 had been easily pursued throughout the prior four days, and totals 257 and 225 were also on the verge of being overrun.
However, after finishing the powerplay at 60 for 1, RR found themselves in a precarious scenario at 78 for 3 after 8.4 overs. However, Sanju Samson and an out-of-form Dhruv Jurel teamed up to score half-centuries in a 121-run counterattack against LSG’s century partnership between KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda, which saw the Royals win with one over remaining.
Trent Boult struck in the opening over, as he almost always does. After hitting boundaries off the first two balls of the match, Quinton de Kock’s stumps were broken by the third. Additionally, in an attempt to drive and bowl Stoinis, Sandeep Sharma swerved the ball into the space between his bat and pad in the second over.
When Hooda joined captain Rahul, LSG was down 11 for 2. They quickly recovered, counterattacking with four boundaries in the final two overs of the powerplay. Then, in the eighth over, Rahul took Avesh for twenty-one, whipping and swinging for six over fine leg and midwicket and dragging a free-hit for four more. At the midway point, LSG was 94 for 2, with Rahul scoring 50 off just 31 balls. Together, he and Hooda carried on the assault, scoring 32 in the next two overs. After reaching his half-century off 30 deliveries, Hooda ended his partnership with Rahul on 115 off 62 balls by holing out to a carrom ball from Ashwin.
LSG was expected to have a good finish with eight overs remaining and plenty of wickets in hand, but they were unable to achieve it. Despite losing just two more wickets, Nicholas Pooran and Rahul (for 76 off 48 balls) were the losers, as LSG could only muster 25 runs in the final three overs of their innings.
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler have put on 60 runs in 34 balls. But Yash Thakur bowled Buttler with two deliveries left in the powerplay, sliding over his crease and missing a full ball that struck the base of leg stump. Marcus Stoinis got Jaiswal caught at deep cover in the subsequent over.
The Impact Player for RR, Riyan Parag, was then removed by Amit Mishra, who caught him at deep cover too soon after giving up a six. At that time, RR was in danger, but Samson and Jurel helped them escape.
Jurel had scored just 10 runs in his previous three innings over six matches, but Samson had started his innings with form, ranking among the season’s leading scorers. Before destroying the next two overs for 29 runs, they took their time, scoring just three runs off the first eight balls of their partnership. Samson scored three boundaries, and Jurel hit Mishra for a six and chipped Thakur for four.
The game’s turning point came from left-arm quick Mohsin Khan’s 14th over. Thakur dropped Jurel twice in that over, but he bounced back with three fours and a six to finish undefeated on 52 off 34 balls. Samson finished his inning with less danger and ended the match with a six over fine leg to remain not out on 71 off only 33 deliveries.