Rajasthan Royals registered their third win of the season after defeating Lucknow Super Giants by three runs in match 20 of IPL 2022.
Batting first, the Royals put up 165 runs on the board, which seemed insufficient given the batting depth the Super Giants possess. Shimron Hetmyer was the star performer with an unbeaten 59 off 36 that was laced with one boundary and six maximums. Rajasthan’s top order failed to contribute runs – Jos Buttler scored 13, Devdutt Padikkal got 29, Sanju Samson perished on 13 and Rassie van der Dussen managed just four runs. If not for Hetmyer’s half-century, the side would have finished with a much smaller total.
Jason Holder and Krishnappa Gowtham picked up two wickets each while Avesh Khan chipped in with one. But it was Dushmantha Chameera who was the most economical of the Lucknow bowlers. He gave away only 22 runs in his four overs.
Chasing 166 to win, the Super Giants got off to a bad start, losing captain KL Rahul in the very first ball of the innings. But a combined effort from Quinton de Kock, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Marcus Stoinis, Dushmantha Chameera and Avesh Khan took the game down to the wire before the Super Giants eventually fell short of the target by three runs. Stoinis and Avesh were particularly important to Lucknow’s fight– the former remained unbeaten on 38 off just 17 balls while the latter was not out on seven off two balls.
For Rajasthan, Yuzvendra Chahal was the most expensive bowler with an economy rate of more than 10. The best bowler was Ravichandran Ashwin, who conceded only 20 runs in his four overs.
With this win, Rajasthan are now right at the top of the points table. Lucknow, meanwhile, have dropped to the fifth position.
Image credit: IPL
