Jaipur, Mar 25: The Rajasthan Royals have opened up their campaign with a win over the KL Rahul-led Lucknow Super Giants.
Despite a fine resistance in the second-innings, Lucknow Super Giants crumbled under the scoreboard pressure. Sandeep Sharma managed to put in a fine performance with the ball as he took charge of the middle and final stages of the innings to defend the target.
Sanju Samson led the side with the bat as he top-scored with 82 off 52 deliveries. He was also supported by Riyan Parag who came in at number four with a fine 43 off 29 deliveries.
Samson, RR captain and POTM, said, Always great fun to spend time in the middle. Becomes more special when you win the game. This time I’ve been given different kind of role with slightly different combination we have. Sanga has given me some suggestions to follow. I’ve been playing IPL for 10 years – there has to be some experience coming in. I feel I need to spend more time and understand conditions. Playing international ODIs also helped me. It’s all about understanding your strengths and weaknesses. I’m a batsman who just reacts to the ball – no matter the first ball or the last ball. I should give this trophy to him (Sandeep). If he didn’t bowl those three overs, I wouldn’t be POTM. I thought I should call him. I heard Ash bhai say it’s not just about skill but character in pressure moments. He has that in his eyes, in his body language that you can trust that guy.
KL Rahul, LSG captain:Â Bowled well in patches. The target wasn’t a lot. We made a few mistakes. Good to see Mohsin back. Naveen has been crucial for us. We will learn from the mistakes. We need to find ways to win games of cricket. Langer has bought a lot of calmness to the group. We enjoy having him around. Missing a season was really painful.