Lucknow, April 22 (IANS) A clinical collective performance from Mohsin Khan, Prince Yadav, and Mohammed Shami helped Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) restrict the Rajasthan Royals (RR) to a modest 159/6 in their clash in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Wednesday.

While Ravindra Jadeja’s late-innings assault (43 not out off 29) provided a much-needed back-end surge for RR, the story of the first innings was the tactical dominance of the LSG seamers, who dismantled the top order with high-velocity aggression and

Opting to bowl first, LSG didn’t have the best of starts as Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi hit six boundaries between themselves in the first three overs. But RR’s explosive start was derailed in the third over when Shami struck twice in two balls.

He bowled a sharp bouncer to remove Jaiswal, who tried to hook, and an airborne Rishabh Pant leapt to grab the catch with an outstretched right hand. One brought two for Shami as he got one to nip away and take Dhruv Jurel’s outside edge, as Pant dived to his right to dismiss him for a duck.

The pressure intensified as Mohsin nailed his lengths and became the first bowler in IPL history to bowl a maiden over to teenage sensation Sooryavanshi, as he eventually forced him into mistiming a loft to cover, while having Shimron Hetmyer to give a leading edge to mid-off.

Prince then ensured there was no middle-order recovery as he dismissed Riyan Parag, who holed out to long-on, and later removed Donovan Ferreira by having him caught at third man to leave RR reeling at 110/6.

RR were staring at a sub-par total before Jadeja took charge. Biding his time initially, Jadeja exploded in the final over by picking 20 runs off Mayank Yadav (0-56), bowling in his first game of the season. Supported by impact player Shubham Dubey’s 11-ball 19 not out, Jadeja lent some respectability to the total and, in turn, gave the RR bowlers a fighting chance in the match.

Brief scores:

Rajasthan Royals 159/6 in 20 overs (Ravindra Jadeja 43 not out, Yashasvi Jaiswal 22; Mohsin Khan 2-17, Prince Yadav 2-29) against Lucknow Super Giants

–IANS

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