RR successfully defended their total of 178 for 6 © BCCI
With a win, Lucknow Super Giants would've assured themselves of a top-two finish. But Rajasthan Royals instead rose to second spot with a 24-run victory over KL Rahul's side on Sunday (May 15).

A tale of contrasting powerplays

Trent Boult bowled a spectacular opening over, conceding just three runs. His double blow in the next over hurt LSG as Quinton de Kock picked Neesham at point and Ayush Badoni was outdone by an inswinger. Prasidh Krishna and Boult conceded just 1 each in the next two overs as pressure mounted on LSG. Prasidh cramped Rahul for room with a back of a length delivery as the LSG captain picked out the fielder at point. LSG were reduced to 34/3 at the end of 6 overs.

RR started strong and maintained a brisk pace through the innings. Though Jos Buttler was sent back early by Avesh Khan, who accounted for the batter for the second time this year, Yashasvi Jaiswal led the way. Jaiswal was dropped by Mohsin Khan off a straightforward chance, leaving Avesh unimpressed, and rightly so, as the RR opener made the most of the repreive to get a 29-ball 41. Samson - at No.3 today - and Jaiswal joined hands to take Dushmantha Chameera for 21 in the last over of the PowerPlay, pushing the score to 51.

Could LSG recover from those early blows?

Not really. Deepak Hooda and Krunal Pandya kept LSG in the chase with a 65-run alliance off 46 balls before Ashwin was rewarded for a spectacular spell with the latter's wicket. Hooda took on Chahal, who was expensive on the night conceding 32 runs in 3 overs. However, Chahal had the last laugh as Hooda fell for 59 off 39, to open the floodgates. LSG did have a deep batting line-up and would've hoped for it to stand up today, but it didn't work out as they slipped from 94 for 3 to 120 for 7. Boult conceded 9 in his final over to finish with 2-18.

Did RR's middle order come to the party earlier?

Most batsmen got starts but couldn't convert. With Samson in the middle, LSG brought on Jason Holder, who had previously accounted for the RR captain thrice. Ravi Bishnoi at the other end was taken for 12 in his first over. Samson and Jaiswal added 64 for the second wicket before Holder struck in his second over, dismissing the former for a 24-ball 32.

Devdutt Padikkal then attacked from the onset, going after Stoinis in his only over of the night, racing away to 14 off 5. He continued to race along despite Jaiswal falling at the other end to Ayush Badoni in a caught-and-bowled dismissal. Padikkal found the boundaries at will before falling to Bishnoi's googly for another 30-plus score in the middle (39 off 18). James Neesham, who replaced Rassie van der Dussen, was run-out for 14 while Riyan Parag holed out for 19 to another one of Bishnoi's googlies. The middle phase was when LSG plotted a small recovery as RR only had 154 on the board after the 18 overs.

How did they reach 178 then?

Thanks to some incredible shots from Trent Boult, who forged a late, impactful 26-run stand with Ashwin. Boult first flat-batted a short ball from Mohsin through mid off and then sliced one over extra cover. A couple of more singles and twos helped RR score 14 off the penultimate over. Another 10 from Avesh's third and the last over of the innings took RR to a good total, which eventually proved to be more than sufficient.

Brief scores: Rajasthan Royals 178/6 in 20 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 41, Sanju Samson 32, Devdutt Padikkal 39; Ravi Bishnoi 2-31) beat Lucknow Super Giants 154/8 in 20 overs (Deepak Hooda 59, Krunal Pandya 25, Marcus Stoinis 27; Trent Boult 2-14, Prasidh Krishna 2-32, Obed McCoy 2-35) by 24 runs.