Hetmyer, bowlers help Rajasthan Royals beat Lucknow Super Giants by three runs

For the best part of Rajasthan Royals’ innings, they were behind the eight ball, but thanks to some lusty hitting in the death overs, smart tactical moves and an impressive bowling effort, they registered their third win of this IPL by beating Lucknow Super Giants by three runs at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.

Defending 165, Trent Boult delivered two deliveries of brilliance in the first over, a peach of an inswinger to send skipper KL Rahul back first ball, followed by Krishnappa Gowtham in a similar fashion. LSG could never recover from these early setbacks despite a late resurgence thanks to Marcus Stoinis (38* off 17b). RR’s young quick Kuldeep Sen bowled the final over and he capped an impressive debut by defending 14 runs.

The impact wickets have and the value of an attacking bowling attack was for all to see when RR batted as the men in pink raced away at 10 runs an over in the first four overs and then found themselves stopped in their tracks by LSG.

Avesh Khan, building on his rising reputation, was the first to get among wickets by rattling tournament top-scorer Jos Buttler’s (13) stumps in the sixth over. Sanju Samson (13) then missed a Jason Holder full toss and was adjudged leg before. The RR captain walked back in anger, in no mood to review. Continuing with his resurgence in form after several middling seasons, off-spinner Gowtham squeezed the RR scoring further, with a two-wicket over.

Devdutt Padikkal (29) stranded for strike, unsuccessfully attempted a reverse sweep to be caught at slip. Later in the over Rassie van der Dussen (4) also fell. Making smart use of the angles and changing his pace, Gowtham outperformed fellow spinner Ravi Bishnoi, who had missed a sitter offered by Padikkal in the powerplay. Reduced to 67/4 after the first 10 over, RR had rebuilding to do.

Shimron Hetmyer did that until the 15th over with R Ashwin before the India all-rounder launched Gowtham for two sixes in the 16th for a 16-run over. By then Hetmyer had warmed up and started to do what he does best—hit through the line. Two sixes and a four in the 18th, two sixes in the 19th and another six in the 20th and Hetmyer had helped RR raise a competitive 165, 73 runs coming in the final five.

Ashwin retires out

With 10 balls to complete the innings and Hetmyer on the offensive, RR made what could prove to be a pioneering tactic in T20 cricket, with R Ashwin (28—23b) racing back to the pavilion retired out, to offer the more powerful striker Riyan Parag an opportunity to leave an impact. Parag got a 4-ball 8 including a six off the final over bowled by Holder. “I literally had no idea. I just saw him going off. It came off for us because Riyan got a six,” Hetmyer said at the innings break.