Credit: X
The Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals nearly sealed playoff qualification after defeating the Lucknow Super Giants by seven wickets. With this victory, the Royals have now consolidated their spot at the top of the table with 16 points from nine games. On the other hand, the Super Giants are still in the fourth spot on the table with five wins from nine games.
After winning the toss, Rajasthan rattled Lucknow with the ball as KL Rahul and Co. were reduced to 11-2. But reducing his side the LSG captain stepped and found support from Deepak Hooda with the duo stitching up a 115-run stand with both scoring vital half-centuries. After this batting effort, LSG lost some momentum towards the end and managed to post 196.
Chasing down this total, RR also had a wavered start as they also lost their opening pair and their number four cheaply. But Sanju Samson continued his stellar form alongside Dhruv Jurel with the duo carrying RR over the finish line. Jurel scored his maiden T20 half-century while Samson finished off the game with his fourth six as he remained not out at 71 from 33 balls at a strike rate of 215.
Talking about the defeat, KL Rahul said, "I think we left about 20 runs behind. We didn’t get an ideal start but with the partnership me and Hooda had was great. In these sorts of games, the set batter had to score close to a hundred after getting to 50-60. I think we were 150 after about 15 overs, should have capitalized on it a bit more."
"I think it is clear the team with more sixes ends up winning. We do try to hit our sixes but today we had to change our approach after those two early wickets. If Hooda pushed on and scored 20 more, and I got 20 more then we’d finish around 220. That would have been the difference, that’s the 20 runs we left behind."