Rajasthan’s Royal collapse: Needed 25 off 18 balls, Rahul Dravid’s side falters at finish line again | Ipl News

Creating hory as a 14-year-old debutant, Vaibhav Suryavanshi impresses but RR snatch another defeat from the jaws of victory.Nine runs needed from six balls. That was the equation for the Rajasthan Royals in their last two matches. At Kotla, a few days ago, they came undone Mitch Starc’s fine last over, albeit still managing to force a Super Over and losing in the tiebreaker. In Jaipur on Saturday, they come undone even worse. Chasing 181, RR fell short 2 runs against Lucknow Super Giants to suffer their sixth defeat of the season and remain rooted to the bottom half of the table.
Avesh shines, RR collapse
When 25 runs were needed off 18 balls, and Yashasvi Jaiswal was still batting at 74, RR were in cruise control. Avesh Khan’s night till then had not gone well; he had conceded 26 runs off his first two overs, but with the first ball of the 18th over, he fired in a full delivery, zoning in on the middle stump. Jaiswal, who had batted like a dream for most of the night, lost his shape, and the middle stump flew off the ground.It was the first sign of another RR late collapse. Later in the over, stand-in captain Riyan Parag went for a scoop behind the wickets – per se, not the worst idea because Avesh was constantly trying to bowl the fuller length balls – but he too lost his shape far too much, fell over to the offside and saw the ball crash into the stumps. He reviewed it, but he already knew the result as he walked off while the review system confirmed the obvious. Shimron Hetmyer has been retained RR for his abilities at the death overs, and he hit a couple of fours off Prince Yadav in the 19th. Then he fell off the third ball of the last over, flicked a full ball straight to Shardul Thakur at short fine leg, a gift to LSG. Despite a late dropped catch David Miller, Avesh held his nerve off the last ball to seal the win for LSG… and later quipped he wants to be the best version of Avesh Khan, and not be Mitchell Starc, when asked about the comparison.

Middle stump uprooted
Avesh Khan brings an end to Yashasvi Jaiswal’s knock of 74 (52).
Can #LSG capitalize on this momentum shift?
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— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 19, 2025
For Parag and RR, it was another forgettable night. “Really kind of hard to process all the emotions right now. I don’t know what we did wrong. I felt we were in the game probably till the 18th over and even the 19th over actually. But yeah, I don’t know. It’s tough. I blame myself for this. I probably should have finished it in the 19th over, but then I don’t know if that was a bad decision from myself,” Parag said after the match, the tone of the interview not dissimilar from Sanju Samson’s after the defeat against DC the other night.
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Vaibhav’s early impact
“My word, what the hell was that!” Shane Watson, who has seen his fair share of IPL cricket in multiple roles, couldn’t contain the excitement. Off the first ball he faced on debut, Vaibhav smashed Shardul Thakur for a lofted six over the offside. It was in the slot, alright, not the most difficult delivery he would have faced. Mind you, he has already faced Jofra Archer in the nets, the video of which Rajasthan Royals had shared a few days earlier, and the teenager was swinging through the lines freely after copping an early bouncer. But this was the real deal. And he swung through the line of the ball once again, generating immense power through the batswing, not losing his shape in an attempt to muscle the ball. “One of the hardest shots in cricket is to gain power over cover of the front foot, and he says have some of that Shardul Thakur. What was that! Power to burn from the 14-year-old,” Watson added.

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Welcome to #TATAIPL, Vaibhav Suryavanshi
Updates https://t.co/02MS6ICvQl#RRvLSG | @rajasthanroyals pic.twitter.com/MizhfSax4q
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 19, 2025
As any nervous teenager would, Vaibhav was edgy at times. He was setting off for non-exent runs and cutting close while returning to the crease. There was one ugly hoick that was grassed multiple converging fielders and trickled to the fence for four. But overall, his 20-ball 34 will be talked about for a while to come.

That’s how you wrap up an innings
Abdul Samad went into slam mode to take #LSG to a total of 180/5
Updates https://t.co/02MS6ICvQl#TATAIPL | #RRvLSG | @LucknowIPL pic.twitter.com/mTQjKq3r5E
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 19, 2025
Sandeep’s costly over
Rishabh Pant’s gamble to bat first looked to be quite a serious one as LSG lost the red-hot Mitch Marsh and Nicholas Pooran within the powerplay. Pant’s own woeful form continued as he fell for a bizarre 9-ball 3, attempting a reverse scoop and getting caught behind. The three early wickets prompted LSG to use the Impact Sub early as Ayush Badoni was brought in to handle the crisis, and he did just that with Aiden Markram for company. But RR kept things largely tight towards the backend, with LSG losing the set batters at the wrong time to be 153/5 after 19 overs. The most impactful over of the night would turn out to be the 20th as Abdul Samad – shining in his role as the finisher for LSG – smashed Sandeep Sharma for four sixes to plunder 27 runs off the last over. In the final equation, that made all the difference.
Brief scores: LSG 180/5 (Aiden Markram 66, Ayush Badoni 50, Wanindu Hasaranga 2/31) beat RR 178/5 (Yashasvi Jaiswal 74, Avesh Khan 3/37) 2 runs.