Wade helps Gujarat book IPL playoff spot

Rajasthan Royals' pace trio proved too much for Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday, giving their team a 24-run win, as the race intensified for a place in the Indian Premier League playoffs.

IPL newcomer Gujarat Titans earlier confirmed their spot in the first qualifier with a seven-wicket win against the Chennai Super Kings.

Rajasthan chose to bat and made 6-178 despite losing Jos Buttler for only 2 in the third over of the batting Powerplay.

Pacers Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna and Obed McCoy then shared six wickets to restrict Lucknow to 8-154, with Aussie Marcus Stoinis hitting two sixes and a four in his 17-ball knock of 27 that was the team's second top score.

Yuzvendra Chahal, the tournament’s top wicket-taker, had Deepak Hooda stumped for 59 off 39 balls as the leg-spinner took his tally to 24 wickets in 13 games.

 

Image Id: 549936641B344EBA9392859E06606315 Image Caption: Marcus Stoinis added two sixes and four for Lucknow // Sportzpics-BCCI/

 

The win lifted Rajasthan second spot, behind leader Gujarat, with 16 points. Lucknow, which also has 16 points, slipped to third on a lesser run-rate than Rajasthan.

Lucknow skipper KL Rahul used eight bowlers –Stoinis was taken for 15 runs in his one over – as Rajasthan put up a formidable total.

Opening batter Yashasvi Jaiswal top-scored for his team with 41 after Buttler lost his off stump while going for a ramp shot against fast bowler Avesh Khan.

Devdutt Padikkal (39) and skipper Sanju Samson (32) made contributions in the middle overs before Boult (17 not out) and Ravichandran Ashwin (10 not out) added valuable runs in the last two overs.

Leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi (2-31) picked up the wickets of Padikkal and Riyan Parag.

Meanwhile in the earlier match overnight, wicketkeeper-batter Wriddhiman Saha hit an unbeaten 67 as Gujarat reached 3-137 with five balls to spare, with Matthew Wade adding 20 off 15 against Chennai for its 10th win in a blockbuster debut IPL season.

Chennai, ninth in the table with eight points, had earlier struggled to reach 5-133 against some tidy Gujarat bowling led by Mohammed Shami, who finished with 2-19.

"We were not chasing a big target, so I took my chances in the Powerplay and then there was no need to take chances as the required rate was under six," Saha said.

Matheesha Pathirana, Chennai’s 19-year-old Sri Lanka fast bowler, impressed in his debut IPL game when he had Shubman Gill (18) trapped leg before wicket off a brilliant first-ball yorker.

Pathirana also found the leading edge of Gujarat skipper Hardik Pandya (7) to finish with 2-24, but Saha stood firm to score his third half century of the season which featured eight fours and a six.

Chennai chose to bat first but had its top order pinned down by Gujarat’s bowlers.

Shami had Devon Conway caught behind in the third over for five. Ruturaj Gaikwad (53) and Moeen Ali (21) couldn’t find the boundary until the fifth over before Moeen smashed two sixes against Rashid Khan in the last over of the batting powerplay.

Gaikwad was top scorer for his team with 53 off 49 balls and Narayan Jagadeesan made an unbeaten 39, but Gujarat didn’t concede a boundary in the last five overs with Rashid bowling two of those overs.

The 2022 Indian Premier League will be broadcast live in Australia on Fox Sports and live streamed on Kayo

Australians in IPL 2022

Delhi Capitals: Mitchell Marsh, David Warner

Gujarat Titans: Matthew Wade

Kolkata Knight Riders: Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch

Lucknow Super Giants: Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye

Mumbai Indians: Tim David, Daniel Sams, Riley Meredith

Punjab Kings: Nathan Ellis

Rajasthan Royals: Nathan Coulter-Nile

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Glenn Maxwell, Josh Hazlewood, Jason Behrendorff

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Sean Abbott