In the RR vs. LSG Match 44 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, Rajasthan Royals defeated Lucknow Super Giants by seven wickets. Captain Sanju Samson crushed a 33-ball unbeaten 71, and Dhruv Jurel achieved his first IPL half-century.
At the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium here, Samson scored a brilliant innings in which he hit seven boundaries and four sixes. With the assistance of Jurel, who scored 52 not out off 34 balls, Rajasthan Royals recovered from losing two wickets quickly and went on to win comfortably thanks to a fourth wicket partnership of 121 runs.
After Deepak Hooda scored 50 off 31 balls and LSG captain K.L. Rahul slammed a 48-ball 76 to take the home team to 196/5, Rajasthan used outstanding batting from Dhruv Jurel and captain Sanju Samson to reach 199/3 and win the match with six balls remaining.
Rajasthan Royals, who needed to need 197 runs to win, got off to a great start thanks to a 50-run first wicket partnership between Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal. Buttler scored 34 runs in just 18 balls, compared to Jaiswal’s 24 runs in the same amount of balls. The LSG bowling, which lacked significant pace in the form of Mayank Yadav, did not concern either of them.
After Jaiswal was dismissed on the same score as RR collapsed to 60/2 in the seventh over, and Rajasthan Royals were down to 78/3 with the innings seemingly unravelling when Riyan Parag followed him back into the dugout for 14 off 11 balls.
Sanju Samson, the captain, kept the innings together and, with Dhruv Jurel, established an undefeated 121-run partnership for the fourth wicket as the Rajasthan Royals took advantage of some careless fielding by LSG. LSG misfielded a few times, grassed a few catches, and missed an opportunity to effect a runout due to a terrible mix-up involving Samson and Jurel.
Sanju Samson ended the game with a barrage of shots, striking Mohsin Khan for a huge six after the bowler failed to run him out at the non-striker’s end. Rajasthan Royals had pulled the brakes in the middle and death overs, but LSG could not do so with the ball. He and Jurel both scored a single before he and Jurel connected for a six off the final ball of the over.
Samson ended the match and ensured victory for RR in the 19th over by hitting Yash Thakur for consecutive balls, a four and a six.
Of the two, Jurel was the more combative. Samson went insane in the last moments. Mohsin Khan was scythed, scooped, and hauled by Jurel for 4, 6, 4. Yash Thakur misjudged the timing of his jump off the fourth delivery of the over, palming the ball over to third man for a single. As the ball rushed to the fence, Jurel dropped Mohsin Khan once more close to the short-third zone.
The two strongest bowlers for LSG on the pitch on Saturday night were Amit Mishra and Krunal Pandya. However, they lost by about 20 runs and further damaged their prospects in the pitch with subpar fielding. Many were taken aback when Captain Rahul chose not to give Marcus Stoinis another over after the latter took 1-3 in the first.