IPL 2024: Rajasthan Royals defeat LSG by 20 runs

Riding on Sanju Samson’s onslaught and Trent Boult’s brilliance, Rajasthan Royals (RR) started their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 campaign with a win at home as RR registered a 20-run victory against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Sunday.
For LSG, KL Rahul scored 58 while Nicholas Pooran played a crucial unbeaten knock of 64. For RR, Trent Boult bagged two wickets while Nandre Burger, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Sandeep Sharma scalped one wicket each.
Defending a target of 193, Trent Boult provided Rajasthan Royals with their first breakthrough as he removed Quinton de Kock for 4. De Kock tried to go for a big hit but Nandre Burger intercepted at the Long-on and took a fantastic catch in the first over of the game.
In the third over Boult struck again as he removed Devdutt Padikkal. Burger then joined the wicket-taking party in style as he dismissed Ayush Badoni for 1. Badoni attempted to go for a big hit but the shot went up in the air and Jos Buttler took a brilliant catch at the mid-on.
However, after losing three wickets in quick succession, KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda took back control and stitched a good partnership, piling runs for LSG at regular intervals.
In the 6th over the duo scores hammered Ravichandran Ashwin, 15 runs, which included five runs of wide and a six from Rahul.
Yuzvendra Chahal took his first wicket of the day and he dismissed the dangerous-looking Deepak Hooda for 26. Hooda tried to go for a big hit but his shot lacked timing as the ball went straight into the hands of Dhruv Jurel at the deep midwicket.
After the dismissal of Hooda, explosive batter Nicholas Pooran joined hands with Rahul at the crease and the duo formed a good partnership. Rahul slammed 35-ball fifty.
Sandeep Sharma took his first wicket of the day and dismissed Rahul for 58. Pooran slammed a boundary off Sandeep Sharma’s delivery to bring his half-century in style.
Ravichandran Ashwin provided Rajasthan Royals with an important breakthrough as he dismissed Marcus Stoinis for 3. Ashwin delivered a tricky ball on the leg stump as Stoinis hammered it hard in search of a six, however, the ball went deep where Dhruv Jurel grabbed an easy catch.
In the 19th over, Pooran slammed two boundaries, gathering 11 runs. Pooran and Krunal Pandya pushed hard, but RR were too good in the end to start their campaign with a 20-run win over LSG.
Earlier, RR won the toss and opted to bat first. Samson’s magnificent innings of 82 runs and his 93-run partnership with Riyan Parag guided his side to a total of 193/4 runs.
Brief score: Rajasthan Royals 193/4 (Sanju Samson 82*, Riyan Parag 43; Naveen-ul-Haq 2-41) vs Lucknow Super Giants 173/6 (Nicholas Pooran 64*, KL Rahul 58; Trent Boult 2-35).