Marcus Stoinis, Player of the Match: (About the RR owner Manoj Badale) He is a good man, I just passed a message to Zamps (Adam Zampa). It was nice to get involved with the ball. Wasn't a plan to get Jos out etc, just wanted to use the conditions. The message sent to us was that it was a tough wicket.  (Whether he will bowl more in the upcoming matches) You have to ask the skipper (Laughs), I am good fitness-wise!

KL Rahul (Lucknow Super Giants skipper): (Regarding the icebag on his arm) I got hit on the hand by one of the throws. At the end of the 10th over, we sent out a message that 165 is a good total. Didn't have to set a high target. They have a quality team with good bowlers who exploited the conditions. There was no dew, so it was fair for both teams. (Whether he was surprised with the pitch) Obviously we came into this game and thought 180 is a par score. With RR having some great batsmen, we thought about getting 10-15 more than par. But after the first over from Boulty itself, I told Kyle (Kyle Mayers) that this is not a 180 pitch. (About Amit Mishra) He bowled well and had the impact. Our plans and tactics were always to get the first 2-3 wickets early since RR are pretty strong at the top of the order.

Kyle Mayers: It was a good victory. Any victory is always good. We stress on winning outside home and it worked today. I think I am batting well, the pitch was a difficult one, and wasn't the best for strokeplay. Just had to work it out and decided to find the gaps rather than going for the sixes.  That was always in the plan, you have to improve the strike rate but today I realised I have to play the situation and take my time. I wanted to go on and up the strike rate but more or less happy with my performance. I think it was low but not two-paced, it was just up and down and the pace was alright. The variable bounce was the hardest thing when the bowlers used the wicket. I tried to hit the ball as straight as possible and then access the off-side field. Not necessarily, you have to go with the game plan and not think of missing any deliveries. 

Sanju Samson (Rajasthan Royals captain): Not that great after a loss. We will definitely take the lessons and move on from it. With the batting line-up we have, it was a very chasable score. The expectation was a bit of a low and slow kind of a wicket, to be honest, and it was exactly like that. I think you need to play some smart cricket. We were going really well till the 9th over. I think they bowled really well and whenever we tried t take them on, we gave our wickets away so credit to them. Even if you win or lose a game you have to take lessons from that. We did a reasonably good job by restricting them to that score. We expect a lot better from the batters but we have to move on and come out with a better performance next time.

MATCH OVER!

Lucknow Super Giants win 10 runs!

Lucknow Super Giants 154-7 (20)
Rajasthan Royals 144-6 (20)

Yashasvi Jaiswal 44 (35) | Jos Buttler 40 (41)

Avesh Khan 4-0-25-3 | Marcus Stoinis 4-0-28-2

What a clinical bowling performance from LSG! They have wrapped up a superb ten-run victory to defeat the in-form Rajasthan Royals. 154 seemed a middling total at the innings break but the Rajasthan opening duo of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler also found the going tough. The pair still managed to produce a good Powerplay by scoring 47 runs!

They continued to go on with a run-rate around 7.5-8 runs per over until the half-way mark. However, the introduction of Marcus Stoinis worked wonders for KL Rahul and co. despite the seamer conceding a six off his first delivery. Stoinis went onto dismiss Jaiswal off the third delivery and LSG started to get in the game after that. In the very next over, there was a bad mix-up which ended up with Sanju Samson getting run-out. The situation got worse for RR as Jos Buttler holed out while looking to take on Stoinis in the 14th over.

The hero of the previous match, Shimron Hetmyer also didn't have a great day as he miscued an attempted big shot to long-on off Avesh Khan's bowling. The pressure mounted on the young pair of Devdutt Padikkal and Riyan Parag as the asking rate was almost 12 by the time they came in. Padikkal made things interesting to an extent as scored 13 runs off the 18th over from Stoinis. Requiring 29 off 12 balls, Naveen-ul-Haq conceded a six off the third ball but the Afghan pacer came back strongly to leave 19 to defend. In the end, Avesh did that successfully while also adding the scalps of Padikkal and Dhruv Jurel in the final over.

19.6 Avesh Khan to Ravichandran Ashwin, back of a length delivery from Avesh, Ashwin gets the pull away but the deep midwicket fielder makes a meal of that. But LSG has managed to defend this middling score quite comfortably in the end.  

19.5 Avesh Khan to Ravichandran Ashwin, that was a slower one on a length around the middle stump channel, Ashwin swings it away across the line from the inside half of the bat and gets it away down towards deep midwicket for a couple. 

Incredible catch from Deepak Hooda! Under pressure and Hooda has plucked out a stunner at long-on. Dhruv Jurel can count himself unlucky given that he struck the ball so well

19.4 Avesh Khan to Dhruv Jurel, WICKET! What a catch under pressure by Deepak Hooda. Absolutely incredible from Hooda. That was right in the slot from Avesh Khan and Jurel almost timed that perfectly. A short arm jab from Jurel but couldn't quite get the elevation he was after. Hooda times the jump to perfection and holds onto a stunner. That is some catch and it should be done. 

Dhruv Jurel c Deepak Hooda b Avesh Khan 3 (2b) (4*0 6*0)

Edged and taken. Padikkal has to depart as Avesh Khan gets another scalp and this might be the end of the game for RR!

19.3 Avesh Khan to Devdutt Padikkal, WICKET! This might well be the final nail in the coffin for the Royals. That was a wide yorker well outside off, Padikkal did pretty well to be honest to reach that but only manages to get an outside edge which has been safely held by Nicholas Pooran behind the stumps. The equation getts tougher, 14 to win from 3 balls now. 

Devdutt Padikkal c Nicholas Pooran b Avesh Khan 26 (21b) (4*0 6*0)

19.2 Avesh Khan to Riyan Parag, that angles into the right-hander, on a length and Parag misses the attempted swing across the line, inside edge down towards the short third man region and they scamper through for a single. 

19.1 Avesh Khan to Riyan Parag, FOUR! Full outside off, Parag throws his hands at that and flays it away over the backward point fielder and it races away to the fence. Hands through the ball and gets the placement right. 

Oh! Over-rate penalty applied. So, only four fielders outside the circle for LSG!

Ten runs off the penultimate over but a crucial dot ball to close it out. RR need 19 off the last six balls! Ends his IPL debut with 4-0-19-0