Jaipur: Half-centuries by Aiden Markram and Ayush Badoni, along with Abdul Samad’s late blitz, helped Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) post a competitive 180/5 in 20 overs against Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here on Saturday.
On a slow pitch, after losing three early wickets, Markram and Badoni lifted LSG by hitting 66 and 50 respectively, while sharing a partnership of 76 off just 49 balls for the fourth wicket. But the duo got out even before the last two overs came into the picture.
That’s when Samad took an erring Sandeep Sharma to the cleaners by smashing four sixes in the final over that went for 27 runs and ended unbeaten on a sensational 30 off just 10 balls to give LSG the much-needed momentum at the halfway mark of the game.
Electing to bat first, LSG suffered two hammer blows in power-play – Mitchell Marsh top-edged a pull to square leg off Jofra Archer, while Nicholas Pooran couldn’t make the most of a reprieve given on six as he was trapped plumb lbw by a clever slower-ball from Sandeep.
Rishabh Pant’s attempt to break free from his painful struggle resulted in a top-edge on reverse-sweep off Wanindu Hasaranga. The ball hit Dhruv Jurel on the chest, but the wicketkeeper recovered quickly enough to complete the catch on the second attempt.
Badoni, coming in as an Impact Player for Marsh, survived an LBW attempt while missing a sweep off Hasaranga and he then joined forces with Markram, who had hit five boundaries by then, to lead LSG’s resurrection.
Markram smacked Hasaranga for consecutive sixes down the ground and over long-on, before taking three runs off Sandeep to bring up his fifty off 31 balls. From the other end, Badoni hammered and scooped Sandeep for successive fours, before he and Markram hit a leg-side six each off Theekshana.
But Hasaranga broke the 76-run partnership as Markram reached out for a lofted drive, but holed out to long-off for 66. Badoni then got two boundaries, including one off the glove edge, to bring up his fifty in 33 balls. On the very next ball, he looked to slice but was caught by a deep point. It took four powerful sixes off juicy balls off Sandeep Sharma by Abdul Samad in a whopping final over worth 27 runs to take LSG to exactly 180.
Brief scores:
Lucknow Super Giants 180/5 in 20 overs (Aiden Markram 66, Ayush Badoni 50; Wanindu Hasaranga 2-31, Tushar Deshpande 1-26) against Rajasthan Royals
(IANS)
