Indian Premier League: Sanju Samson triumphs over Rahul, Pooran’s half-centuries as Rajasthan Royals beat Lucknow Super Giants

Jaipur: Nicholas Pooran’s 63 and KL Rahul’s 58 went in vain as Rajasthan Royals (RR) rode on a superb unbeaten 82 by skipper Sanju Samson and clinical bowling performance to beat Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by 20 runs in the fourth match of the Indian Premier League (IPL), here at Sawai Mansingh Stadium.

Electing to bat first, Rajasthan Royals stormed to a competitive 193/4 in their 20 overs thanks to a 93-run partnership between Samson and Riyan Parag before coming back to restrict Lucknow Super Giants to 173/6 to start their IPL 2024 campaign on a winning note.

Skipper Samson was the key batter for the Royals as he continued to find gaps and score boundaries with ease. His innings of 82 off 52 deliveries were marked with six maximums and three boundaries.

After an early setback, Samson anchored the Royals innings whereas Riyan Parag played the aggressive part. Coming to bat at No. 4, all-rounder Parag, who had a good domestic season, got off to a decent start but soon started changing gears. Yash Thakur with his first over of the inning got punished for 21 runs. Both the Royals batter marked their bowler and took all possible risks to score against him. Ravi Bishnoi was welcomed with 15 runs by Parag and Samson.

Skipper Samson reached his maiden fifty against LSG in 33 deliveries. In between this, left-arm unorthodox spinner Krunal Pandya held the game in favour of the Giants. His four-over; 19 runs spell was marked by no boundary.

Parag fell short of his half-century as he was dismissed by Haq, who clinched his second wicket of the evening. The over already saw the Royals batter scoring 14 runs, a boundary, a maximum, and few wides and singles. However, in an attempt to pull a short ball over a deep backward square leg, Parag lost his wicket as he holed out to substitute fielder Deepak Hooda. Parag was dismissed for 43 runs.

Parag and Samson added 93 runs for the third-wicket partnership. However, the partnership was marked by three dropped chances by the Giants fielder. Mohsin Khan dropped Parag at 21 and Samson at 36.

Brief Score: Rajasthan Royals 193/4 in 20 overs (Sanju Samson 82 not out, Riyan Parag 43; Naveen-ul-Haq 2-42, Ravi Bishnoi 1-38) beat Lucknow Super Giants 173/6 in 20 overs (Nicholas Pooran 64 not out, KL Rahul 58; Trent Boult 2-35, Sandeep Sharma 1-22) by 20 runs. IANS

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