Shimron Hetmyer scored a quickfire unbeaten 59 as the Lucknow Super Giants defeated the Rajasthan Royals by 3 runs at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.
After being put into bat by LSG skipper, openers Jos Buttler and Devdutt Padikkal got Royals off to a solid start. The pair added 42 runs for the opening wicket before Avesh Khan broke the stand by cleaning up Buttler (13) with a fuller delivery that angled in.
Sanju Samson (13) then missed a full toss from Jason Holder and was adjudged leg before.
Krishnappa Gowtham then dismissed both Devdutt Padikkal and Rassie van der Dussen in quick succession to reduce the Royals to 67/4.
Shimron Hetmyer along with Ravichandran Ashwin put on 68 runs for the fifth wicket. Hetmyer got a reprieve on 14, when Krunal Pandya dropped a simple catch at long on.
The West Indies left hander however capitalized on the opportunity and smashed an unbeaten 36 ball-59, to take RR to a respectable score of 165/6 in their allotted 20 overs.
For Lucknow, Jason Holder and Krishnappa Gowtham claimed 2 wickets each.
Chasing 166, Lucknow got off to a horror start by losing wickets of KL Rahul (0) and Krishnappa Gowtham (0) off Trent Boult.
Jason Holder’s promotion in the batting order also failed as he sliced a pull off Prasidh Krishna to Ravi Ashwin. The West Indian was back in the hut for 8 and LSG were in massive trouble at 14 for 3 in the fourth over.
Kuldeep Sen claimed his maiden wicket by dismissing the well set Deepak Hooda, bowled for 25.
Yuzvendra Chahal dealt Lucknow’s hopes by dismissing Ayush Badoni, the dangerous Quinton de Kock and Krunal Pandya leaving Lucknow in big trouble at 102/7.
The Rajasthan leg spinner claimed his 150th IPL wicket by trapping Dushmantha Chameera leg before wicket for 13.
Marcus Stoinis (38*) provided some late blitz to bring down the equation to 15 off the final over.
However, debutant Kuldeep Sen held his nerve and gave away 11 rune, to give Rajasthan Royals a 3 run win.
Rajasthan Royals 165 for 6 (Hetmyer 59*, Gowtham 2-30) beat Lucknow Super Giants 162 for 8 (de Kock 39, Stoinis 38*, Chahal 4-41) by three runs