Rajasthan Royals (RR) secured their first win of the new IPL campaign by defeating Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in front of a packed home crowd at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Sunday (Mar 24). Chasing a difficult target of 194, the Giants fell short by 20 runs despite a late charge from Nicholas Pooran who remained unbeaten on 64 off 41 deliveries. 

Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!

LSG did well to take the game deep, especially considering they were 11/3 in the fourth over. Trent Boult started off the proceedings by bowling a loosener on the pads that an unfortunate Quinton de Kock slammed straight to the lone fielder standing on the long leg boundary. 

Devdutt Padikkal was scruffed up by the Kiwi with a bouncer to the helmet before funnelling in a length ball that uprooted the middle and offstump out of the ground. Impact sub Nandre Burger took his debut wicket in the form of Ayush Badoni who shunted a pacy delivery straight down the throat of Buttler at mid off. 

Just when it looked like the LSG innings was disintegrating, Hooda (26) played a nice, little cameo to kickstart the comeback trail. Skipper KL Rahul picked up the scent alongside Pooran and the duo stitched an 85-run partnership. 

Sandeep Sharma, once renowned for his opening ball bursts but now bestowed with closing the innings was called into the action in the 15th over and flipped the game on its head. He picked up Rahul’s wicket and bowled couple of miser overs which increased the asking rate astronomically.

In the end, LSG needed 27 runs off the last over, which proved a touch too much, even for someone like Pooran who was seeing the white ball like a football.

ALSO READ | Former Pakistan seamer Mohammad Amir comes out of retirement to play 2024 T20 World Cup

Samson-Parag set the platform

Batting first, the Royals were off to a poor start as Jos Buttler departed on the lowly score of 11, attempting a loose waft at an outside off delivery bowled by Naveen-ul-Haq. KL Rahul, donning the gloves for the first time after his injury, managed to make the difficult chance easy. 

Buttler’s partner and rising superstar Yashasvi Jaiswal did play a few audacious shots but he also departed in the powerplay as he scythed a back-of-length delivery, straight to Krunal Pandya at mid-on. 

Newly promoted at no. 4, Riyan Parag joined forces with his skipper and the duo started the rebuilding process. Both players took some time in the middle to get used to the double-paced nature of the pitch before cutting loose. 

Parag played a breezy hand with a 29-ball 43-run knock laced with three sixes and a boundary while Samson on the other hand, continued his trend of lightning up the opening match of the tournament, 

Owing to Samson’s effortless hitting Royals managed to post the challenging total which was above par for the surface. For Lucknow, the damage could have been greater if it wasn’t for the last three overs where the bowlers pulled up their socks and somehow stopped the RR batters from going completely bonkers. 

Playing XIs: 

Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (c), Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan

Lucknow Super Giants: KL Rahul (c/wk), Quinton de Kock, Devdutt Padikkal, Marcus Stoinis, Ayush Badoni, Nicholas Pooran, Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Yash Thakur, Naveen-ul-Haq

You can now write for Baazigarnews.com and be a part of the Baazigar family. Share your stories and opinions with us here.