Rajasthan Royals hosted the Lucknow Super Giants for the 26th match of the TATA IPL 2023 on April 19, 2023. Sawai Mansingh Indoor Stadium expected visitors to be disappointed after being invited to bat first. The advantage was with RR, considering the target of 155 was easy to chase on the pitch. RR’s middle order fell apart, and things turned wrong after the 12th over in the second inning.
The highlight of the contest was Trent Boult bowling his eighth maiden in the opening over. Only Bhuvneshwar Kumar of Sunrisers Hyderabad holds this record, rendering it unique. Each has been a first-over virgin eight times in total. Following them with a 7 is Praveen Kumar.
KL Rahul was on the receiving end. All Boult had to do was hold onto the lines as tight as possible. He did. Rahul was unable to find a chance to steal a single, let alone find any boundaries.
The Indian Premier League has several records in the tournament; however, this one remains unique, showcasing the class and impact bowlers bring to their teams.
The LSG skipper opened with Mayers and scored 39 runs in 32 balls. Mayers contributed to the endeavor by reaching fifty in less than 42 balls. Both were subsequently dismissed by Jason Holder and Ashwin, respectively. Boult returned unexpectedly in the 12th over to take one wicket off Ayush Badoni.
Their middle order remained on the lower side, with Deepak Hooda also mistiming his shot for a wicket after scoring just 2 runs off 4 balls. Marcus Stoinis attempted to stretch the total with 2-4s for a total of 21 runs in 16 balls. That paid off when LSG reached 154.
RR confidently entered the field, understanding that the target was easy to chase. Online cricket betting sites had already inclined their odds toward the chasing team.
They fell short by 10 runs despite the fact that Ashwin and Riyan Parag remained unbeaten on 3 and 15, respectively. The question of whether Ashwin could have been promoted to bat earlier is likely to generate debate. He has done an excellent job swinging the bat for in-the-air boundaries. This is also true for IPL matches and international competitions. Jaiswal and Buttler aimed to score 84 runs as a partnership.
Arcus Stonis changed the game by picking their wickets to put a halt to the top order. RR was in control till the 12th over. The middle order went for a ride starting with losing the skipper for 2 runs in 4 balls at the strike rate of 50%. The disappointment was carried when Hetmyer also departed after putting up 2 runs in just 5 balls. Devdutt Padikkal entered the field as a substitute, registering 26 runs off 21 balls.
RR remains at the top of the TATA IPL 2023 leaderboard with an NRR of +1.043. LSG needs another victory by a huge margin to surpass RR for the top spot.
