KL Rahul played a captain’s knock and shared a 115-run partnership with Deepak Hooda, who too scored a fine half-century, as Lucknow Super Giants posted a par-score of 196/5 in 20 overs against table-toppers Rajasthan Royals in Match 44 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 here on Saturday.
Rahul blasted a 48-ball 76, reaching a cautious half-century off 31 balls, while Hooda scored a 31-ball 50 as LSG recovered from a precarious 11/2 in the second over to post a good score at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow.
Asked to bat first, LSG got off to a poor start as Quinton de Kock, after hitting back-to-back boundaries to Trent Boult in the first over, was cleaned up on the third ball by the left-handed New Zealand pacer with one that nipped back a bit and went past the opener’s bat, which came down late, to crash into the stumps.
Sandeep Sharma, who claimed a five-wicket haul a few days ago, accounted for Marcus Stoinis on the last ball of his first over as the ball landed at full length, swung in and went past to disrupt the furniture as the batter tried to drive without getting to the pitch of the ball. LSG were down to 11/2 in the second over.
However, LSG recovered from the twin setbacks as skipper Rahul and Hooda raised 115 runs in quick time for the third wicket partnership. Rahul got his third half-century while Deepak Hooda got his first half-century in 19-odd matches.
Rahul scooped, drove, pulled and swept superbly to hammer a brilliant 76 off 48 balls, hitting eight fours and two sixes — the only two sixes of the innings a far cry compared to the last couple of matches in which teams hit maximums in double figures.
After a cautious start, Rahul opened up by hitting Boult for a four off an in-swinging yorker and was lucky to survive a ball from Ashwin that darted in, just managing to sweep it away to the boundary.
Rahul continued to flourish, hitting back-to-back boundaries off Yuzvendra Chahal in the seventh over — caressing a half-volley through covers and following it up with a sweep behind square and the spinner strayed to left.
The LSG skipper hammered Avesh Khan for 21 in the eighth over, hitting his first six off the second delivery before hammering another six off a no-ball and following it up with a four off the free hit. Just when it looked like he would reach the three-figure mark, Rahul got out as Avesh Khan got his revenge for the mistreatment he received from the LSG as Boult picked a simple catch at deep backward point.
Hooda drove, cut, swept and used the switch-hit well to score an exact fifty, hitting Boult for boundaries off successive balls. His four off Chahal in the 12over was his best shot of the night as he hammered seven fours in his 31-ball 50.
Rajasthan Royals pulled back things a bit in the death overs, conceding seven and six runs in the 18th and 19th overs before Ayush Badoni (18 not out) and Krunal Pandya (15*) scored 12 runs off the final over to ensure they reached a par score on this ground.
Brief scores:
Lucknow Super Giants 196/5 in 20 overs (K.L Rahul 76, Deepak Hooda 50; Sandeep Sharma 2-31) against Rajasthan Royals.