LSG vs RR: Samson, Jurel star as Royals near IPL 2024 playoffs

RR continued their march to the IPL 2024 Playoffs with a comprehensive 7-wicket win over LSG at the Ekana stadium in Lucknow, thanks to knocks from captain Sanju Samson and Dhruv Jurel. The duo put on and remained unbeaten on 71 and 52 as RR crusied home in the end with an over to spare. KL Rahul's knock would go in vain in the end as the LSG bowlers failed to capitalise on the momentum they had got in the middle.

RR put LSG into bat and had instant success in the form of the wickets of Quinton de Kock and Marcus Stoinis with the score at 11 from 2 overs. KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda would then steady the ship for Lucknow and launch a good counterattack on the Royals bowling. Rahul was leading the charge and found the perfect partner in Hooda, who also kept up with the scoring rate.

Rahul got to his fifty in 31 balls, while Hooda also got a half-century in quick time as the duo put on 115 runs. Rahul would reach a landmark during the knock as he became the fastest opener to get to 4000 runs in the IPL and joined the likes of Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle in the elite list. While Rahul looked to continue the onslaught, the support from the other end didn't come at the right time as Nicholas Pooran had a bad day at the office.

Rahul ultimately went for 76 off 48 balls and it was the cameos from Krunal Pandya and Ayush Badoni that got LSG to 196 in their 20 overs.

RR had a strong start to their innings with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler continuing on their good form and put on 60 runs in 5.5 overs before Yash Thakur struck to remove the England T20I captain. Jaiswal would also fall soon after as LSG were back in the driver's seat. They solidified their position with the ageless Amit Mishra dismissing Riyan Parag.

LSG vs RR: Highlights

This is when RR decide to gamble and use Dhruv Jurel alongside their skipper Sanju Samson and the duo would keep the run-rate under check.

They would then wrestle the initiative from Lucknow and ensured that the equation became just 11 from 12 balls and sealed the win with ease and continue their march to the IPL playoffs.

The wicketkeeper spot for the T20 World Cup squad is one that has a lot of suitors before the IPL 2024 started. Rishabh Pant would then race ahead of others as his captaincy, wicketkeeping and batting looked to be top despite returning from a big absence.

However, Rahul and Samson continue to be in the conversation as both men played similar sort of knocks for their side on Saturday. Rahul not only steadied the ship, but also counter-attacked the RR bowling as he continued it at a high strike-rate.

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Samson would lead the charge for the Royals as consistency has been a hallmark of his IPL 2024 campaign. The RR skipper got to his fifty with a six and off 28 balls to ensure his side won their 8th game out of 9 to almost confirm their playoff spot.

Dhruv Jurel was coming into the IPL 2024 season on the back of being tagged as the next MS Dhoni by many. While the RR batter would brush aside the comparisons, eyes were certainly on him after his heroics in the India vs England Test series.

The start to the season hadn't been great for him as he was virtually out of the T20 World Cup contention. Tonight, RR got him in ahead of the likes of Shimron Hetmyer and Rovman Powell and he had to put his hand up tonight.

He would be the aggressor in the partnership with Samson at one point and ensured he would keep the pace of the running between the wickets high as well. Jurel's form will once again be great news for the Royals, who seem destined for the final at this rate.

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