Rajasthan Royals on Sunday began their IPL 2024 campaign on a happy note as they registered a 20-run victory over Lucknow Super Giants at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.
Chasing 194 for a win, LSG made a fist of the match thanks to fifties from Nicholas Pooran (64*) and captain KL Rahul (52) but the target proved just out of their reach.
Trent Boult grabbed a couple of wickets for the hosts while debutant Nandre Burger, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal and Sandeep Sharma took one each.
Mid-innings update:
Sanju Samson played a captain's knock of 82 (52) as the Rajasthan Royals have set a stiff 191 for the Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur. Samson shared an enterprising partnership of 93 with Riyan Parag, who struck 43 off 29 deliveries, laced with three sixes.
Samson stayed till the end to ensure the Royals have a good total to defend.
RR vs LSG, Toss:
Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson won the toss and elected to bat first against Lucknow Super Giants in Match 4 of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2024) in Jaipur on Sunday.
Riyan Parag will bat at No. 4 for the home team while Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer and Trent Boult will be RR's foreign players with Rovman Powell as an impact player.
For LSG, Devdutt Padikkal will make his debut in this match with Quinton de Kock, Naveen-ul-Haq, Nicholas Pooran and Marcus Stoinis as their overseas stars.
Lucknow Super Giants Subs: Deepak Hooda, Mayank Yadav, Amit Mishra, Prerak Mankad, K Gowtham
Rajasthan Royals Subs: Nandre Burger, Rovman Powell, Tanush Kotian, Shubham Dube, Kuldeep Sen
Teams:
Lucknow Super Giants (Playing XI): KL Rahul(c), Quinton de Kock(w), Devdutt Padikkal, Ayush Badoni, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran, Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Naveen-ul-Haq, Yash Thakur
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson(w/c), Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Sandeep Sharma, Avesh Khan, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal
Jaipur pitch report
According to Matthew Hayden, the pitch is characterised by a brown surface marked with prominent cracks, indicating its extreme dryness. This dryness has consistently favored spin bowlers since the stadium's inception in 2008.
Consequently, batting teams place significant emphasis on maximizing their scoring potential during the powerplay overs before focusing on consolidating their innings during the middle overs.
Regarding the ground dimensions, the boundaries vary in length. The boundaries along the length of the ground from one end are longer, measuring approximately 70 meters.
On either side, the square boundaries span 62 and 70 meters. In contrast, the boundaries at the opposite end are comparatively shorter, measuring around 56 and 64 meters.
