Rajasthan Royals 165 for 6 (Hetmyer 59*, Gowtham 2-30) beat Lucknow Super Giants 162 for 8 (de Kock 39, Stoinis 38*, Chahal 4-41) by three runs
Having lost their fourth toss in four matches, Rajasthan Royals found a way to defend successfully for the third time in a highly tactical game. Royals promoted R Ashwin to No. 6 in the 10th over only for him to declare himself out in the 19th over to allow Riyan Parag hitting time in the middle. Lucknow Super Giants were not to be left behind: they promoted K Gowtham and Jason Holder as two wickets fell in the first over to make sure their main batters were not exposed to Trent Boult‘s swing.
A measure of how difficult it is to defend is that despite Shimron Hetmyer‘s assault towards the end of the first innings – he scored 38 off the last 15 balls he faced – despite Boult’s swing at the start to get KL Rahul first ball, despite Ashwin’s four overs for 20 runs, despite Yuzvendra Chahal‘s two overs in the last five to take four wickets, it came down to IPL debutant Kuldeep Sen having to defend 14 in the last over.
Unlike the India international Prasidh Krishna, who attempted yorkers in the 19th and conceded 19 to Marcus Stoinis – incidentally held back for just this role – Sen bowled length and wide outside off to bowl three dots to make it 14 needed off two. The four and six off the final two balls didn’t matter.
More to follow
Source: ESPN Crickinfo