Rajasthan Royals
Quinton de Kock lost his stumps to Trent Boult in the first over of the game•BCCI
Not quite a spinners’ pitch
There were a few cracks on the pitch in Lucknow, with the ball expected to turn off them. The soil was black too, which has historically been more spin-friendly. When LSG batted, RR’s spinners R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal combined for figures of 8-0-80-1. The solitary wicket was Ashwin’s – Deepak Hooda caught at wide long-on – and it was only his second wicket in eight games this season.
LSG’s spinners didn’t have much success during the chase either, even though there wasn’t much dew, with Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi and Mishra bowing a total of seven overs for figures of 1 for 60. While Krunal bowled quicker and flatter to concede only 24 from his four overs, Mishra and Bishnoi proved expensive.
RR restrict LSG at start and finish
Trent Boult did what he almost always does – strike in the first over. Quinton de Kock had begun the match with boundaries off the first two balls, but had his stumps shattered by the third. And in the second over Sandeep Sharma swerved the ball through the gap between Stoinis’ bat and pad as he attempted to drive and bowled him.
LSG were 11 for 2 when Hooda joined his captain Rahul, and they went about the recovery at brisk pace, counterattacking by smashing four boundaries in the last two overs of the powerplay. Rahul then took Avesh for 21 in the eighth over, whipping and swinging for six over midwicket and fine leg, and pulling a free-hit for four more. LSG were 94 for 2 at the halfway stage, with Rahul reaching 50 off 31 balls. He and Hooda continued the offensive, picking up 32 off the next two overs. Hooda got to his half-century from 30 deliveries before holing out to a carrom-ball from Ashwin to end his partnership with Rahul on 115 off 62 balls.
With eight overs to go and plenty of wickets in hand, LSG were primed for a strong finish, but it did not happen for them. Even though they lost only two more wickets, they were those of Nicholas Pooran and Rahul – for 76 off 48 balls – and LSG were able to score only 25 runs in the last three overs of their innings.
Himanshu Agrawal is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo