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Rajasthan Royals looked set to end their losing streak of three matches but made a mess of their chase of 181 against Lucknow Super Giants in Jaipur.
Riyan Parag scored 39 off 26. (PTI Photo)
Rajasthan Royals stand-in captain Riyan Parag cut a sorry figure after losing to Lucknow Super Giants in an IPL 2025 match held at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Saturday night. The defeat was RR’s fourth in a row and it has further dented their hopes of a top-four finish. Chasing 181, RR made a brilliant start to the chase with Yashasvi Jaiswal combining with 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi to add 85 runs for the first wicket.
Suryavanshi announced his arrival in brazen fashion, smacking the first ball of his IPL career for a six. He went on to hit 34 off 20 with the help of two fours and three sixes. Jaiswal went on to score 74 off 52 and at one stage, RR were cruising in the chase.
From 156/2 in 17 overs, RR finished at 178/5 in 20 overs.
“Feeling a little hard to process the emotions, not sure what we did wrong. We were in the game till the 18-19th over. I probably should have finished it in the 19th over, I blame myself. We just have to put one game together collectively for 40 overs, only then can we win,” Parag said in a conversation with the broadcasters.
RR bowlers did well to keep LSG in-form batters including Mitchell Marsh (4) and Nicholas Pooran (11) quiet. However, Aiden Markram (66) and Ayush Badoni (50) struck fifties to lift them from 54/3 to 130/3.
In the final over, Abdul Samad smacked four sixes in the over of Sandeep Sharma to give LSG a competitive total to defend.
“We did really well (with the ball), the last over was unfortunate, thought that we would stop them for 165-170. Sandy (Sandeep Sharma) bhai is trusted, he’s only had one bad game. Samad batted really well,” Parag said.
“We should’ve chased that down. Today was perfect, no complaints about the wicket. We were right in it, just a few balls can cost you an IPL game,” he added.
