Lucknow Super Giants stun Rajasthan Royals and defeat them by two runs at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in the ongoing IPL 2025. The hosts were heading towards a comfortable win, but the LSG bowlers pulled a thriller and got the job done in the final over of the game. Avesh Khan bowled a phenomenal final over, restricting nine runs and winning the match for Lucknow.
Notably, Rajasthan were in a comfortable spot in their previous game against Delhi Capitals as well. They were cruising for a win but ended up bottling it as they lost it in the super over. Against LSG, they repeated the past and the only difference was that the game didn’t move to the super over. The team would be extremely unhappy with the performance and needs to reflect on their middle order to get back to winning ways.
Batting first, Lucknow had a horrid start as their star players in Mitchell Marsh, Nicholas Pooran, and captain Rishabh Pant failed to get going. They made 4,11 and 3 runs respectively, and that put immense pressure on the visitors, who were forced to use the Impact substitute. Ayush Badoni was brought in and he created an impact straightaway.
Along with Aiden Markram, Badoni stitched a partnership of 76 runs, and that got the team back into the contest. The South Africa international played an important knock of 66 runs off 45 deliveries while Badoni made 50 off 34. However, credit goes to Abdul Samad as well, who smacked an unbeaten 30 runs off 10 deliveries to help LSG post 180 runs on the board.
Rajasthan, on the other hand, had a cracking start as debutant Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Yashasvi Jaiswal set the tone. The latter went on to score 74 runs off 52 deliveries but after his dismissal, things changed drastically. Wickets fell like a house of cards and sooner than later, Rajasthan went on to lose their sixth defeat in the ongoing season. Avesh meanwhile finished with three wickets to his name.