TATA IPL 2024: Samson, Jurel's Fifties Lead Royals to 7-Wicket Win Over LSG
Skipper Sanju Samson smashed an unbeaten 71 off just 33 balls, while Dhruv Jurel notched up his maiden IPL fifty as Rajasthan Royals clinched a seven-wicket victory over Lucknow Super Giants in Match 44 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. Samson's explosive innings, featuring seven boundaries and four sixes, steered Rajasthan Royals out of trouble after the loss of two early wickets. Teaming up with Jurel, who contributed 52 not out off 34 deliveries, they formed a crucial 121-run partnership for the fourth wicket, guiding RR to a comfortable win at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium.
Following LSG skipper K.L. Rahul's impressive 76 off 48 balls and Deepak Hooda's quickfire 50 from 31 deliveries, the home team posted a total of 196/5. However, Rajasthan Royals, led by their captain Sanju Samson and Dhruv Jurel, showcased excellent batting performances to chase down the target with six balls to spare, reaching 199/3. Rajasthan got off to a strong start in their chase, with Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal forming a solid opening partnership of 50 runs.
Buttler, who had blazed to an unbeaten 107 off 60 balls against KKR 10 days back, faced a couple of anxious moments against Matt Henry and Mohsin Khan, picked pace by hitting Henry for a big six, shuffling across and lapping it over the keeper. Jaiswal fell on the same score as RR slumped to 60/2 in the seventh over and when Riyan Parag followed him back into the dugout for 14 off 11 balls, Rajasthan Royals fell to 78/3 and the innings was looking to come apart.
However, skipper Sanju Samson held the innings together and, along with Dhruv Jurel, raised an unbeaten 121-run partnership for the fourth wicket as Rajasthan Royals capitalized on some shoddy performance by LSG on the field. LSG grassed a couple of catches, failed to capitalize on a dreadful mix-up between Samson and Jurel to affect a runout, and also misfielded on a couple of occasions.
Rajasthan Royals had applied the brakes in the middle and death overs but LSG could not do so with the ball as Sanju Samson finished the match with a flurry of shots, hitting Mohsin Khan for a big six after the bowler had failed to run him out at the non-striker's end. In the 19th over, Samson hammered a four and a six off successive balls off Yash Thakur to finish the match and seal victory for RR.
Samson had started slowly and waited for his chances before exploding into action. He came in at 60/1 and saw his team go down to 78/3, so his first seven shots were for singles. A four off veteran Amit Mishra was followed by a couple of boundaries against Thakur. Ravi Bishnoi was also mistreated as Samson hit him for back-to-back fours in the 16th over. A reverse-hit four off Krunal Pandya over point fielder was his best shot of the day before his power-hitting in the last couple of overs.
While Jurel displayed a more aggressive approach, Samson unleashed his fury towards the latter part of the innings. During the 14th over, Jurel aggressively struck Mohsin Khan for boundaries, including a scythed shot, a scoop, and a pull, accumulating 4, 6, 4 respectively. However, on the fourth delivery of the over, Yash Thakur mistimed his jump, resulting in the ball being palmed over at third man for a single. Jurel then reached his debut IPL fifty in 31 balls with a single off Mohsin Khan.
