Captain Sanju Samson's powerful knock of 82*(52) coupled with some brilliant Powerplay and slog-overs bowling, helped Rajasthan Royals get off to a winning start as they beat Lucknow Super Giants by 20 runs in Match 4 of the TATA IPL 2024 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. 

Samson (82) and Riyan Parag (43 off 29) stitched a brilliant 93-run sand off 59 balls to help RR post a competitive 193/4. The RR pacers, Trent Boult and Nandre Burger, set the tone with three wickets in the Powerplay. Sandeep Sharma, R Ashwin and Avesh Khan then bowled brilliantly in the slog overs, after LSG's fightback, to defend 60 off the last five overs and start off with a win.

Chasing 194, LSG were jolted early as Trent Boult did Trent Boult things and picked up a wicket in the first over, sending back Quinton de Kock. He made it two in two overs, cleaning up Devdutt Padikkal with a beauty. Nandre Burger then picked up his maiden IPL wicket as he had Ayush Badoni caught at mid off.

ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴇꜰᴛ ᴀʀᴍ ʀᴀᴍᴘᴀɴᴛ 🎯

Trent Boult & Nandre Burger get 3️⃣ wickets in the power play for @rajasthanroyals 🙌@klrahul & @HoodaOnFire with the rebuilding 💪

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LSG sent in Deepak Hooda as their Impact Player, replacing Yash Thakur. He started off aggressively straightaway, hitting a six and a four off his first three balls. He got together with KL Rahul and took the aggressive route, bringing up LSG's fifty in the seventh over. Samson then introduced Yuzvendra Chahal into the attack, and the leg-spinner struck in the first over, dismissing Hooda. After a couple of frugal overs, Nicholas Pooran and Rahul upped the ante as Rahul took the attack to Burger, cracking a six and a couple of fours to take 17 runs off it. Pooran, too, changed gears as he smashed a couple of sixes and a four to take 20 runs off Boult. Rahul brought up his fifty off 35 balls. The pair added 85 runs, but with 49 needed off 24, Sandeep Sharma provided a crucial moment in the match, having Rahul (58 off 44) caught at deep point. RR struck again in quick succession as R Ashwin had Marcus Stoinis caught at deep mid-wicket. In between, Pooran brought up his fifty off 30 balls. With 38 needed off 12, Pooran cracked a couple of fours off Sharma, but it was still a good over for RR as it went for just 11. With 27 required off 6, Avesh Khan bowled a superb last over to give away just six runs and win it for RR. Pooran remained unbeaten on 64 off 41 balls.

Earlier, Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson won the toss and elected to bat.

The home side were jolted early as Naveen-ul-Haq had Jos Buttler caught behind in the second over, after being hit for a couple of fours earlier in the over. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sanju Samson mixed caution with aggression and added 36 off 18 balls. The pair had hit a four and two sixes off the fifth over from Mohsin Khan, but the LSG Pacer bounced back to dismiss the dangerous Jaiswal (24 off 12) off the final ball of the over via a sharp bouncer, which Jaiswal mistimed to mid on. RR moved to 54/2 at the end of the Powerplay.

.@LucknowIPL on target 🎯

Both openers dismissed ✅#RR 63/2 after 8 overs

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The LSG spinners slowed down things, but the introduction of pacer Yash Thakur saw Samson and Parag up the ante as they hit three sixes in the 9th over to accumulate 21 runs.

While Krunal Pandya kept things tight and finished his spell with figures of 4-0-19-0, Samson and Parag went after Bishnoi, cracking a couple of sixes to bring up RR's hundred in the 11th over and the 50-run stand as well. 

Riyan Parag then got lucky as Mohsin misjudged a high catch and couldn't reach it after Parag had miscued his pull off Bishnoi. Samson brought up his half-century off 33 balls off the next ball. The pair added 93 off 59 balls before Naveen finally provided the much-needed breakthrough via a slower bouncer, which Parag (43 off 29) miscued to deep square leg in the 15th over.

After a quiet over, LSG got another one as Bishnoi had Shimron Hetmyer caught behind. Samson and Dhruv Jurel, though, continued the momentum and took RR to 193/4. Samson remained unbeaten on 82 off 52 balls, while Jurel hit 20* off 12.

RR introduced Nandre Burger as their Impact Player in place of Shimron Hetmyer at the end of the first innings.

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