IPL 2022, RR vs LSG, Top Performances: Boult, Chahal rock LSG ship; Sen's last over takes RR to no 1

IPL 2022, RR vs LSG, Top Performances: Trent Boult's 2-30, Yuzvendra Chahal's 4-41 and Shimron Hetmyer's 59* are the top performances.

Shimron Hetmyer scores half century (59 runs) against Lucknow Super Giants (Images ©BCCI/IPL)

Brief Scores: RR 165-6 (Hetmyer 59*, Padikkal 29, Gowtham 30/2, Holder 50/2) beat LSG 162/8 (Quinton de Kock 39, Stoinis 38*, Chahal 41/4, Boult 30/2) by three runs

Player of the Match: Yuzvendra Chahal for 4-41

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) clashed heads with Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday night. Both teams were playing each other for the first time in Indian Premier League (IPL) as Lucknow is one of the two new franchises in world’s marquee league.

Rajasthan Royals beat Lucknow Super Giants

Lucknow’s skipper KL Rahul won the toss and put the Royals in to bat. Royals openers - Devdutt Padikkal and Jos Buttler - started well in the powerplay. Buttler launched a gigantic six and a four off Jason Holder in the second over of the innings. However, pacer Avesh Khan clean bowled Buttler and the Royals lost three more wickets in the next few overs.

Next batters, Shimron Hetmyer and Ravichandran Ashwin, rescued their side by adding 68 runs for the fifth wicket. Due to the explosive knock of Hetmyer, the Pink Army put up a good total of 165 runs in 20 overs.

While chasing a moderate total of 166 runs, Lucknow suffered two quick blows early in the innings due to Trent Boult’s menacing swing bowling. Leggie Yuzvendra Chahal always kept the opponents down throughout the innings with four wickets. LSG all-rounder Marcus Stoinis produced powerful strokes to take Lucknow near to the target, however, brilliant death bowling by Madhya Pradesh seamer Kuldeep Sen ensured a royal win for RR in the final over of the match.

Shimron Hetmyer tears down Lucknow bowling with mighty hitting

Caribean batter Shimron Hetmyer came in the middle when his side was three down; also Royals lost one more wicket in the same over to be reduced to a precarious state of 67 for four. The 25-year-old batter smoked a huge six off Krishnappa Gowtham. Hetmyer got lucky as Krunal Pandya dropped an easy catch at long on which proved very costly in the end.

Hetmyer took advantage of this reprieve and played cautiously till the death overs. However, in the eighteenth over, he went berserk against LSG bowler Jason Holder. The southpaw hammered two elephantine sixes and one boundary in that over to get 18 runs. He continued to deal in sixes in the next over and smashed three gigantic sixes off Avesh Khan. In the meanwhile, he completed his fifty off just 33 balls. Hetmyer finished his innings on the top, garnering 16 more runs in the final over to put up a respectable total of 165 runs on the scoreboard.

Hetmyer remained unbeaten on 59 runs off 36 deliveries, which consisted of only one four but six astronomical sixes.

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Trent Boult takes 2-30 against LSG, Rajasthan move to top of points table (Images ©BCCI/IPL)

Trent Boult decimates top order of Lucknow

Kiwi swing bowler Trent Boult proved unplayable for Lucknow batters while chasing a moderate total of 166 runs. On the first ball of the innings, Boult shattered the stumps of LSG skipper Rahul with a threatening left-arm angle. Before this game, Rahul dominated completely against Boult by amassing 78 runs off 41 deliveries with a staggering strike rate of 190.24, while getting out only once in six innings.

On the next delivery, Boult trapped Gowtham plumb in front of the stumps for a duck by bowling from a different angle, over the wickets.

By removing two top-order batters for ducks with back-to-back deliveries, Boult produced panic in the opponents' dugout.

Read More: IPL 2022, RCB vs RR, Top Performances: Karthik (44*), Shahbaz (45) steer RCB home with 67-run stand

Yuzvendra Chahal takes 4-41 against LSG, completes 150 wickets in IPL (Images ©BCCI/IPL)

Yuzvendra Chahal cleans up the middle order of LSG

Lucknow was already four down after 11 overs with just 65 runs on the scoreboard. After that, leggie Yuzvendra Chahal removed in form youngster batter Ayush Badoni on a personal score of just five in the 12th over. Also, he dismissed two set batters in his next over to take the match far away from the opponents.

He first removed Quinton de Kock, who was playing well while chasing a moderate total of 166 runs. The southpaw made 39 runs off 32 deliveries with the help of two fours and one six. Before this game, Chahal bagged the wicket of Quinton whenever they faced each in IPL. In five innings, Chahal cleaned up de Kock five times by spending only 33 runs off 31 deliveries. So, it was a no brainer to hand the ball to Chahal with de Kock on strike.

Krunal Pandya got bowled by Chahal in the same over and Lucknow were reduced to 102 for seven. The left-handed batter was dismissed two times by Chahal before this encounter in seven IPL innings while conceding 41 runs off 31 balls.

Chahal scalped another wicket in the last over of his quota of four overs. He trapped Dushamantha Chameera in front of stumps, however, he conceded two huge sixes in the same over. The four-wicket haul of Chahal put the opponents in trouble throughout the innings and helped his side to win their third game this season.

Yuzvendra Chahal completes 150 wickets in Indian Premier League in 118 games.

IPL 2022 Points Table

Rajasthan Royals move to the top of the IPL Points Table

What’s to come

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will lock horns with Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai on April 11 at 19:30 hours IST. Gujarat are yet to lose a game in this season of IPL whereas Sunrisers are searching for their second win this season.

Here are some of the Top Twitter reactions from Rajasthan Royals vs LSG game, IPL 2022:

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