Rajasthan Royals fumbled a straightforward chase in the final over once again, losing a thriller to Lucknow Super Giants in Jaipur on Saturday. In control of the 181-run chase even till the 18th over of the match, Rajasthan managed to lose the match by 2 runs against LSG at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.
Avesh Khan turned out to be the unlikely hero for Lucknow, bowling two exceptional overs at the death. Needing 25 to win from the last three overs, Rajasthan had Yashasvi Jaiswal and Riyan Parag set at the crease, but they managed to completely implode against Avesh.
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In the 18th over, Avesh removed both Jaiswal and Parag, and conceded only 5 runs from it. And later on, defending 9 in the final over, Avesh nailed his yorkers to guide the team to a 2-run victory. Avesh finished with figures of 4-0-37-3, which do not do any justice at all to how well he handled the pressure at the time.
Avesh not only had to bowl at set batters, with little runs in the bank, but also had to deal with a late ball change in the final over, after the umpires deemed the ball unfit in the last 6 balls of the match.
The ball was reversing at that time, and there was visible disappointment on the LSG players’ faces when the ball was changed. However, Avesh simply refused to give up and finished off a sensational defence, making sure that LSG got over the line in yet another tight game this season.
