On Wednesday night, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) secured a victory against Rajasthan Royals with a 10-run lead in Jaipur, thus breaking their losing streak. The IPL game was held at Sawai Mansingh Stadium after a four-year hiatus, which made the pitch unfamiliar to both teams.
Nonetheless, KL Rahul & Co kept their composure and persevered until the last ball, resulting in their triumph and strengthening their place in the top half of the standings.
Despite the challenging batting conditions, the bowlers had a crucial role to play, and the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) bowlers performed exceptionally well.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) openers, Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal, were aware that hitting boundaries would be difficult on the pitch, but they still kept up with the required run rate. Nevertheless, LSG made an impressive comeback and eventually emerged as the victors.
The Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captain, KL Rahul, expressed his delight in acquiring the crucial two points but was honest about having to adjust their strategies due to the challenging pitch conditions.
This was evident from the very beginning of the game when Trent Boult opened the match with a maiden over, causing LSG to rethink their initial plans.
“We came in here yesterday and saw 180 would be a par score, but the first over from Boult, me and Kyle had a chat and realised this isn’t a 180 wicket. The ball was keeping a bit low, so we gave ourselves time in the powerplay. Maybe if we played a bit better, we might have got 170 as well,” said Lucknow captain KL Rahul.
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) took some time before introducing their key player, Amit Mishra, into the game, and it wasn’t until the 12th over that LSG managed to get their first breakthrough. Although Rajasthan Royals (RR) lost a wicket, they were still in a good position, but the game’s momentum shifted after Sanju Samson was run out due to a dreadful misunderstanding with Buttler.