Shimron Hetmyer scored a match-winning 59 for Rajasthan Royals (RR) who recorded a narrow three-run victory over Lucknow Super Giants in the 20th match of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 tournament at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.
Shimron Hetmyer’s half-century and a vital 28 from Ravichandran Ashwin, who became the first batsman in history of IPL to retire out in the final over of their innings, helped Rajasthan Royals put on a competitive total of 165/6 in their 20 overs.
In their reply, Lucknow Super Giants fought right until the end but could never really recover from the failure of the top order to get runs as they could manage only 162/8 in their 20 overs, with Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis reaching 38 not out from only 17 balls.
The Lucknow Super Giants wicket-keeper batsman Quinton de Kock top scored for his side with 39 from 32 balls but identical scores of first ball ducks for KL Rahul and Krishnappa Gowtham proved a little costly for LSG.
Gowtham had earlier taken 2 crucial wickets to return with 4-0-30-2 in the Rajasthan batting innings to make his mark in the tournament, but could not make a mark with the bat when he was promoted in the batting order.
The former West Indies captain Jason Holder also had a disappointing return with the bat, scoring 8 from 14 balls before he was dismissed by Rajasthan Royals fast bowler Prasidh Krishna. Deepak Hooda got a start as he scored 25 from 24 balls, but his innings was ended by Rajasthan Royals fast bowler Kuldip Sen, who was playing his first match of this edition.
Also making his first appearance in IPL 2022 was Australia’s star Marcus Stoinis, who hammered 4 sixes and 2 fours late in the game to keep Lucknow Super Giants in hunt.
However, the right-handed batsman could not take his side to a win when they needed 15 runs from the final over. Stoinis hit a six and a four off Kuldip Sen on the last two deliveries but Lucknow Super Giants fell short by just 3 runs.
Rajasthan Royals’ spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was among wickets once again, returning with 4-0-41-4 while the left-arm fast bowler from New Zealand, Trent Boult took 2/30 at the start of the second innings.