Lucknow Super Giants players celebrate their win over Chennai Super Kings. They will up against the high-flying Rajasthan Royals in Lucknow on April 27, 2024.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Far from the pack occupied in the mid-table scrap for the playoffs spots, Rajasthan Royals will indulge itself in the prospect of strolling its way in when it visits Lucknow Super Giants at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium in Lucknow in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on April 27.

Runaway leader Rajasthan has won all three away games so far, and a fourth triumph will take its tally to 16 points, all but sealing a place in the playoffs.

Yashasvi Jaiswal regaining his mojo with an unbeaten 104 in the nine-wicket mauling of Mumbai Indians wiped out the only blemish in the Royals’ top-order. Captain Sanju Samson would hope to emulate his exploits (82 n.o., 52b) from the Royals’ 20-run victory over the Lucknow side earlier this season.

But Super Giants, high on the twin triumphs over Chennai Super Kings (CSK), will be no pushovers. The side will wait with crossed fingers for Mayank Yadav’s return from injury. The pace phenom bowled in the nets on the match eve.

Taking cognisance of Rahul and Marcus Stoinis’ telling contributions in the Super Giants’ two wins, another leg-spinner, Yuzvendra Chahal, could be Royals’ go-to deployment too. This IPL, Rahul’s strike-rate has dipped to 93 against leg-spin while Stoinis has fallen to spinners five times in eight innings.

Lower down the order, Royals will seek a solution for Nicolas Pooran. The southpaw has salvaged his side by injecting momentum, hitting at a strike-rate of nearly 170 — the highest for a Lucknow batter.

Teams (from):

Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (c), Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathore, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Navdeep Saini, Sandeep Sharma, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan, Rovman Powell, Shubham Dubey, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Abid Mushtaq, Nandre Burger, Tanush Kotian, Keshav Maharaj.

Lucknow Super Giants: Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul (c & wk), Deepak Hooda, Ayush Badoni, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran, Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Shamar Joseph, Yash Thakur, Manimaran Siddharth, Prerak Mankad, Arshad Khan, Krishnappa Gowtham, Amit Mishra, Kyle Mayers, Ashton Turner, Matt Henry, Naveen-ul-Haq, Devdutt Padikkal, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Mayank Yadav and Arshin Kulkarni.

Match start time: 7.30 PM (IST).

Rajasthan Royals batsman Riyan Parag plays a shot during the Indian Premier League 2024 match against Delhi Capitals in Jaipur on March 28, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

Young Riyan Parag showed why he is considered a precocious talent as he struck a stunning 84 not out off 45 balls to set up a 12-run win for Rajasthan Royals against Delhi Capitals in their IPL match here on Thursday.

Sent in to bat, RR were reduced to 36 for 3 in the eighth over but the 22-year-old Parag single-handedly took the home side to 185 for 5 with a magnificent unbeaten knock studded with seven fours and six sixes.

Parag, who was promoted to number 4 by the team management this season and made 43 in the previous match, took 25 runs off veteran South African pacer Anrich Nortje with scores of 4, 4, 6, 4, 6, 1 in the final over to hit his highest T20 score.

Chasing 186 for a win, DC could only manage 173 for 5 in 20 overs though South African youngster Tristan Stubbs (44 not out off 23 balls) kept them in the hunt till the final over from which they needed 17 runs.

Avesh Khan conceded just four runs to help RR win their second consecutive match.

South African pacer Nandre Burger and Yuzvendra Chahal took two wickets apiece to also contribute in the RR win.

“Definitely disappointed. The best thing to do from here is to learn from it. The bowlers did well through the 15-16 overs. But the batters did well at the death, hopefully we do better in the next game,” DC skipper Rishabh Pant said.

DC were reduced to 34 for 2 in the fourth over with Burger taking two wickets in three balls in a fine display of fast bowling.

Burger, who was brought in as Impact Sub for Shimron Hetmyer, dismissed opener Mitchell Marsh (23 off 12 balls) and Ricky Bhui (0) in the fourth over.

DC captain Rishabh Pant came out to bat at the fall of Bhui’s wicket and along with senior batter David Warner built the innings without taking too much risk. Delhi were 89 for 2 at the halfway stage.

Warner was the more aggressive one as he got the boundaries to keep DC in the hunt. The senior Australian batter fell one run short of his fifty courtesy a brilliant diving catch by Sandeep Sharma off the bowling of Avesh in the 12th over.

Warner and Pant were involved in a crucial 67-run partnership for the third wicket.

Playing in his 100th IPL match and 14 months after a horrible car crash, Pant tried to build the innings with occasional boundaries. But he got out for a 26-ball 28 as Chahal induced a faint lower edge for Sanju Samson to do the rest behind the stumps in the 14th over.

The asking rate shot up to more than 13 runs an over and DC needed 66 from the last five overs.

Stubbs kept DC in the game with two consecutive sixes off Ravichandran Ashwin in the 17th over, but in the end the Delhi side were short by 12 runs.

They needed 34 runs from the final two overs which they could not get. It was DC’s second consecutive loss.

Earlier, Parag shared 54 and 52 runs respectively with Ravichandran Ashwin (29) and Dhruv Jurel (20) after RR made a shaky start.

Royals captain Samson struck three consecutive boundaries in the fourth over bowled by pacer Mukesh Kumar before nicking a Khaleel Ahmed delivery two overs later to Pant to get out for 15.

RR were 30 for 2 by then as Mukesh had given DC their first breakthrough with the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal (5).

The Royals were in more trouble after wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav literally forced his captain Pant to take a review, which later proved to be successful, to dismiss Englishman Jos Buttler for an LBW decision.

Ashwin came out to bat at number five and he lofted a Kuldeep delivery for a six to help RR reach 58 for 3 at halfway stage. He gave Nortje even a harsher treatment with two sixes in the next over that yielded 15 runs.

Ashwin, however, holed out to Tristan Stubbs near the boundary ropes for a 19-ball 29.

Parag then made his presence felt, striking two boundaries and a six off Ahmed to take RR past 100 in the 15th over.

Brief Scores:

Rajasthan Royals: 185 for 5 in 20 overs (Riyan Parag 84 not out; Axar Patel 1/21).

Delhi Capitals: 173 for 5 in 20 overs (David Warner 49; Nandre Burger 2/29, Yuzvendra Chahal 2/19).