IPL 2022: Rajasthan Royals beat Lucknow Super, Kuldeep Sen gives victory to Rajasthan in debut, not allowing Stoinis to make 15 runs in the last over

Summary
Rajasthan Royals beat Lucknow Super Giants by three runs. In a thrilling match played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Rajasthan defended 165 runs and registered their third win of the season.

In the 20th match of IPL 2022, Rajasthan Royals defeated Lucknow Super Giants by three runs. In a thrilling match played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Rajasthan successfully defended 165 runs and registered their third win of the season. Chasing Rajasthan’s target of 165 runs, Lucknow team could score 162 runs for the loss of eight wickets. For Rajasthan, debutant Kuldeep Sen defended 15 runs in the last over. Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan team has also occupied the top of the points table with the win.

Chasing the target of 166 runs of Rajasthan Royals, Lucknow started very poorly. On the very first ball of the innings, captain KL Rahul got bowled by Trent Boult without opening the account. After one ball, Krishnappa Gautam also returned to the pavilion after being LBW off Bolt.

After two early wickets, Jason Holder was sent up to bat but he too could not do much and was dismissed for eight runs in 14 balls. At one point, three wickets had fallen for 14 runs for Lucknow. But after that Quinton de Kock and Deepak Hooda (25) put together a small partnership and took the score beyond 50.

Ayush Badoni also could not do anything in this match and was dismissed after scoring five runs. Quinton de Kock tried to manage the innings but he too was dismissed for 39 runs in 32 balls. Krunal Pandya (22) too soon returned to the pavilion. Both the players were dismissed by Yuzvendra Chahal in the same over. At one point, Lucknow needed 49 runs in the last 18 balls, but Marcus Stoinis batted vigorously and took the team’s score closer to the target. But failed to score 15 runs in the last over and Lucknow could only manage 12 runs.

Quinton de Kock scored the highest 39 and Marcus Stoinis (38 *) for Lucknow. While for Rajasthan, Yuzvendra Chahal took four and Trent Bolt took two wickets.

Earlier, Lucknow won the toss and called Rajasthan to bat. Jos Buttler and Devdutt Padikkal started well for Rajasthan and added 42 runs for the first wicket. However, after this the team lost its four wickets in making 25 runs. But, Ravichandran Ashwin and Shimron Hetmyer together took the team and put on a half-century partnership for the fifth wicket and took the score in a strong position.

During this, Ashwin was retired after scoring 28 runs in 23 balls. At the other end, Hetmyer remained unbeaten on 59 off 36 balls. With the help of Hetmyer’s stormy innings, Rajasthan scored 73 runs in the last five overs and gave Lucknow a challenging target of 166 runs.