Deepak Hooda’s brilliant 59 went in vain as the Lucknow Super Giants went down by 24 runs against the Rajasthan Royals at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.
After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Rajasthan Royals lost Jos Buttler early to Avesh Khan for 2.
Yashasvi Jaiswal got a reprieve on 13 when Mohsin Khan dropped a sitter at short fine leg. The pair of Jaiswal along with Sanju Samson added 64 runs for the second wicket before the latter (32) sliced a full delivery outside off from Jason Holder to Deepak Hooda at deep cover.
Ayush Badoni then got into the act by dismissing the well set Jaiswal caught and bowled for 41.
Devdutt Padikkal looked set for a big one, but holed out to deep midwicket by Krunal Pandya while mistiming a slog sweep off Ravi Bishnoi for a 18 ball-39.
In the end Trent Boult (17*) and Ravi Ashwin (10*) scored some handy runs down the order to lift Rajasthan to 178/6.
Chasing 179, Trent Boult got RR off to a fine start by sending both Quinton de Kock (7) and Ayush Badoni (0) off consecutive deliveries in the third over.
LSG were in further trouble as skipper KL Rahul (10) sliced a short ball from Prasidh Krishna to Jaiswal at point.
The pair of Deepak Hooda and Krunal Pandya resurrected the innings with a 65 run stand for the fourth wicket before Jos Buttler took a fine catch and lobbed the ball to Parag who was at long off to dismiss the latter for 25.
Yuzvendra Chahal then claimed the well set Hooda stumped for a 39 ball-59, leaving LSG in a spot of bother at 116/5.
Obey McCoy who returned playing XI, dismissed both Jason Holder and Dushmantha Chameera in quick succession.
Marcus Stoinis in the end scored a fighting 27, but failed to take his team past the finishing line, as Lucknow ended with 154/8, thereby losing the contest by 24 runs.
With this victory, RR move to second place on the points table.