Mumbai, May 15: A clinical Rajasthan Royals inched closer to securing a play-offs berth with a convincing 24-run win over Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League here on Sunday.
Both RR and LSG are now tied on 16 points from 13 matches and need another win to confirm their place in the next stage of the tournament. Thanks to their margin of victory, RR also toppled LSG from the second place.
Batting first, Yashasvi Jaiswal top-scored with 41 while Devdutt Padikkal blazed away to an 18-ball 39, as Rajasthan Royals posted 178 for six. Skipper Sanju Samson made 32 off 24 balls.
Ravi Bishnoi was the most successful bowler for LSG, picking 2/31 in four overs.
When their turn to bat came, LSG were stopped at 154 for eight.
The Super Giants got off to a terrible start as Trent Boult (2/18) sent back two of their top batters – Quinton de Kock (7) and Ayush Badoni (0) – in successive deliveries in the beginning of the third over.
Deepak Hooda (59 off 39 balls) denied Boult a hat-trick – the ball headed towards the slip but after one bounce.
LSG were in deep trouble at 29 for three in the sixth over when Krunal Pandya joined Hooda in the middle.
The two quickly added 65 runs for the fourth wicket to keep their team in the game, before Ravichandran Ashwin removed Pandya at a crucial juncture, thanks to some excellent work by Jos Buttler and Riyan Parag in the deep.
Meanwhile, Hooda brought up his fifty but Yuzvendra Chahal had the charging batter stumped after Sanju Samson nearly made a hash of it.
Obed McCoy (2/35) then picked up the wickets of Jason Holder and Dushmantha Chameera to take RR closer to victory. (PTI)
