MUMBAI: Former champion Rajasthan Royals reclaimed the second spot in IPL points table as they beat Lucknow Super Giants by 24 runs at the Brabourne Stadium here on Sunday.
After scoring challenging 178 runs, Royals restricted the opponent at 154 runs in allotted overs by taking 8 wickets. Trent Boult, Pradish Krishna and Obey McCoy claimed 2 wickets each. Deepak Hooda scored 59 runs in 39 balls while Krunal Pandya and Stoinis added 25 runs and 27 runs respectively.
Earlier, Yashasvi Jaiswal (41 off 29 balls), skipper Sanju Samson (32 off 24), and Devdutt Padikkal (39 off 18) got starts but could not go on to score a big one as Rajasthan Royals posted a par score of 178/6 in 20 overs.
Rajasthan suffered an early setback as their top batter Jos Buttler, who leads the chart for most runs with 627 runs including three centuries, was out with the score of 11. Jaiswal and Samson added 64 runs for the second wicket but both got out when they were looking good for a bigger score -- Jaiswal top-edging a skier to bowler Ayush Badoni and Samson holing out to Deepak Hooda off Jason Holder.
Padikkal kept the Rajasthan Royals going with an 18-ball 39, hitting five boundaries and two sixes before he was out, caught by Krunal Pandya off Ravi Bishnoi.
Earlier, Jos Buttler got out for less than 10 runs for the second successive match but Rajasthan Royals have Yashasvi Jaiswal to thank for setting up the platform for the Royals in a match that they need to win to improve their chances of reaching the playoffs.
Jaiswal struck a 29-ball 41. hitting six boundaries and a six to keep the Rajasthan Royals going.
Riyan Parag (19 off 16), Jimmy Neesham (14 off 12) and Trent Boult (17 not out off 9) ensured Rajasthan Royals reached a par total. However, Rajasthan may have fallen short by 10-15 runs on a pitch that is playing a bit slow and is expected to ease out further in the second innings.
Ravi Bishnoi was the most successful bowler for LSG with 2/31 while AVeshKhan (1/20), Jason Holder (1/12), and Ayush Badoni (1/5) got wickets as skipper KL Rahul used as many as eight bowlers.
Brief scores: Rajasthan Royals 178/6 in 20 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 41, Devdutt Padikkal 39, Sanju Samson 32; Ravi Bishnoi 2/31) beat Lucknow Super Giants 154/8 in 20 overs (Deepak Hooda 59, Stoinis 27, Krunal Pandya 25, Trent Boult 2/18).
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