Hetmyer fifty, Chahal four wicket haul guide RR narrow win

Rajasthan Royals 165 for 6 (Hetmyer 59*, Gowtham 2-30, Holder 2-50) beat Lucknow Super Giants 162 for 8 (de Kock 39, Stoinis 38*, Chahal 4-41, Boult 2-30) by 3 runs.

Mumbai: Shimron Hetmyer's unbeaten 59 and a four-wicket haul from Yuzvendra Chahal helped Rajasthan Royals beat Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by three runs here at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.

Chasing a competitive 166-run target Lucknow Super Giants got off to a worst possible start as Rajasthan's left-arm pacer Trent Boult came up with a strategy to come around the wicket to LSG skipper KL Rahul and rattled his stumps in the very first ball. In the next ball after bowling a wide the Kiwi pacer dismissed Krishnappa Gowtham leg before wicket to leave Lucknow tottering at 1 for 2.

Prasidh Krishna too joined his opening bowling partner dismissing Jason Holder for 8 to put Lucknow in further trouble at 14 for 3. Wicket-keeper batter Quinton de Kock and Deepak Hooda then struck a partnership to take their team's total beyond the 50-run mark.

Pacer Kuldeep Sen broke the 38-run partnership cleaning up Hooda and making him his first IPL victim. Yuzvendra Chahal came into the attack and he got the important wicket of young Ayush Badoni for 5 as Lucknow lost half of their side for 74.

Krunal Pandya joined de Kock and the duo took LSG beyond the triple-figure mark. But then in the 16th over Chahal struck a double blow dismissing de Kock and Pandya for 39 and 22 respectively to leave Lucknow Super Giants tottering at 102/7.

Chahal got his fourth scalp in the form of Dushmantha Chameera as Lucknow lost their eighth wicket for 126. Just when it seemed curtains for Lucknow's all-rounder Marcus Stoinis started hitting boundaries and sixes to take his team's total beyond the 150-run mark and keep them in hunt for chasing the target.

With 15 runs to win in the last over, Kuldeep Sen bowled three dot balls to Stoinis as Lucknow fell short by three runs and Rajasthan registered their third win in four matches to reach the top of points table.

Earlier in the day after being put into bat Rajasthan Royals got off to a positive start with openers Jos Buttler and Devdutt Padikkal scoring runs at a brisk pace.

Avesh Khan was introduced into the attack and he cleaned up Buttler for 13 as Rajasthan Royals lost their first wicket for 42 in 5.1 overs. Captain Sanju Samson walked in to bat with Padikkal to take his team's total beyond the 50-run mark.

Jason Holder dismissed Rajasthan skipper Samson leg before wicket for 13 to leave his team at 60/2. In the next over Krishnappa Gowtham struck a double blow to Rajasthan Royals dismissing Padikkal for 29 and then Rassie Van der Dussen for 4 to leave Rajasthan Royals tottering at 67/4.

Shimron Hetmyer and Ravichandran Ashwin then struck a much-needed partnership for Rajasthan Royals and took team's total beyond 100-run mark in 16th over. The duo also went on to score 50-run partnership for fifth wicket.

In the 18th over Ashwin was retired out for 28. Hetmyer also notched up his half-century in just 33 balls and also took team's total beyond 150-run mark.

Riyan Parag was dismissed in the last over for 8 by Holder as Rajasthan Royals scored 16 runs in the last over to post 165/6 in 20 overs.