In a captivating encounter between Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the IPL 2024, LSG managed to post a competitive total of 196/5 despite early setbacks. KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda were crucial in steering the innings, but RR’s bowlers fought back admirably.

Lucknow Super Giants’ Batting Performance

LSG encountered a shaky start as Quinton de Kock and Marcus Stoinis were dismissed early, leaving them struggling at the beginning of their innings. KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda steadied the ship with a resilient partnership, accumulating runs steadily and punishing loose deliveries. Both batsmen showcased their class and scored fifties, but Hooda holed out against Ashwin. However, Rahul kept scoring some classical strokes and used the longer boundaries to score plenty of doubles. He looked good for a hundred but struck out against Avesh Khan at the death.

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Despite losing wickets towards the end, LSG managed to hover around the 10-runs-per-over mark, thanks to Nicholas Pooran’s and others’ late contributions. However, they fell short of the 200-run mark, finishing with 196/5.

Rajasthan Royals’ Bowling Display

RR’s bowlers, led by Trent Boult and Sandeep Sharma, made early inroads into the LSG batting lineup, putting them under pressure right from the start.

Although RR initially dominated proceedings, their bowling attack faltered in the middle overs as LSG’s batters capitalized on loose deliveries. Ashwin and Chahal failed to produce breakthroughs, allowing LSG to build a substantial partnership. Ashwin did get a wicket to his name in his next spell but runs kept flowing at a gentle pace as Yuzvendra Chahal was expensive and went wicketless for the first time this year.

Sandeep Sharma was called to the rescue, and he did get his second wicket and 200th of his career. Two quick wickets did ease off the run rate and Avesh Khan dismissed KL Rahul and exerted more pressure. Trent Boult followed it up with an excellent penultimate over by conceding just six off it, and Sandeep Sharma, too, stemmed the run rate and kept Lucknow below 200 with an excellent final over. Lucknow just conceded 56 runs in the last five overs.

Despite facing early setbacks, KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda’s resilient partnership helped LSG post a competitive total against RR. However, RR’s bowlers fought back admirably in the latter stages, restricting LSG to a score below 200.

LSG break 200 runs total

The last five matches this season produced totals of 210, 224, 206, 261 and 257. But LSG finally break that run to finish on 196. Avesh, Boult and Sandeep allowed only 25 off the last three overs, as Ekana Stadium continues to see sub-200 totals.