Samson, Jurel power Rajasthan past Lucknow
LUCKNOW: An unbeaten 121run partnership between Sanju Samson and Dhruv Jurel powered Rajasthan Royals (RR) to a seven-wicket victory over Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Ekana Cricket Stadium on Saturday.
Samson smashed an unbeaten 71 off 33 while Jurel blasted 52 off just 34 deliveries as they chased down the target of 197.
Openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler got Royals off to a flying start in the powerplay but were dismissed in the seventh over by Marcus Stoinis.
Veteran spinner Amit Mishra dismissed Ryan Parag to put Royals under pressure but Jurel and Samson counterattacked to release the pressure.
Samson slammed a half-century in 28 balls while Jurel bagged his maiden IPL fifty in 31 balls as the pair led the team to win in the 19th over with seven wickets in hand.
Earlier, knocks of fifties from KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda
Knight vs guided LSG to 196/5.
Opener Quinton De Kock was dismissed in the first over and soon after Stoinis too departed, Hooda and Rahul batted sensibly. Rahul brought up his half-century in the 10th over while two overs later, Hooda also completed his fifty.
Hooda was dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin in the 13th over after scoring 50 from 31 balls to break the 115-run partnership in 62 balls.
Nicholas Pooran was sent back soon and Lucknow were down to 173/5 as Rahul was caught in the deep. Rahul top-scored with 76 off 48 balls and included eight boundaries and two maximums. Ayush Badoni and Krunal Pandya helped the team reach 196/5. Brief scores: Lucknow Super Giants 196/5 (KL Rahul 76, Deepak Hooda 50, Sandeep Sharma 2/31) lost to Rajasthan Royals 199/3 in 19 overs (Sanju Samson 71, Dhruv Jurel 52; Marcus Stoinis 1-3).