Lucknow Super Giants beat Rajasthan Royals at home

Jaipur (Uttam Hindu News): An all-round performance from Marcus Stoinis (21 runs and two wickets) and Avesh Khan (3 wickets for 25 runs) helped Lucknow Super Giants beat Rajasthan Royals by ten runs at home on Wednesday.

Lucknow Super Giants, batting first at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, scored 154 runs for seven wickets in 20 overs, in response to which Rajasthan Royals could only manage 144 runs for six wickets. Despite this defeat, due to better run average, Rajasthan is at the first place in the points table with eight points, while Lucknow is at the second place with the same number of points.

Yashasvi Jaiswal (44) and Jos Buttler (40) got Rajasthan off to a good start by adding 87 runs for the first wicket, but skipper Sanju Samson (2) and big-hitting maestro Shimron Hetmyer (2) were dismissed early. Rajasthan’s grip loosened in the match. The agility of the Lucknow bowlers and fielders did not allow the hosts to recover from the pressure which proved to be the difference between victory and defeat in the end. Avesh Khan turned the tide of the match by taking useful wickets of Devdutt Padikal (26) and Hetmyer besides Dhruv Jurel (0). Earlier, Stoinis ended the dangerous pair by taking the wickets of Yashasvi and Butler.

Opting to bat after losing the toss, Lucknow got off to a good start. After a solid start by Kyle Mayers (51) and KL Rahul (39), the team suffered two setbacks in the form of Deepak Hooda (2) and Ayush Badoni (1) but in the later overs Nicholas Pooran (29) and Marcus Stoinis ( 21) A quickfire 45-run partnership helped the team post a respectable score of 154 for seven. One of the costlier players of IPL, Hooda proved unsuccessful once again.

For Rajasthan, Ravichandran Ashwin got two wickets while Jason Holder, Trent Boult and Sandeep Sharma got one wicket each.

In order to increase the run rate in the last over of the innings, the Giants lost three players. First, Sandeep Sharma got Stainis caught behind the wicket and brought him to the pavilion, after which Pooran was run out in the process of stealing runs. Yudhveer Singh was also declared run out on the last ball.

Meyers hit four fours and three sixes in his half-century innings, while Rahul at the other end hit four fours and a six in his 32-ball innings. This partnership, which was proving dangerous for the Royals, was broken by Jason Holder, who was taken in the team in place of Adam Zampa, when he got Captain Rahul caught at long-on by Jos Buttler. In the very next over, Meyers returned after hanging the bat, becoming the victim of clever bowler Ravichandran Ashwin.