RR has been able to pull off big wins last season but failed in the second half with continuous losses. Now, in IPL 2024, RR has corrected their mistakes and won their games at home, Jaipur. This has helped them to secure first place on the table and they have become the first team to qualify for IPL Playoffs. They have won mandatory 8 games out of 9 they have played and with 16 points, they qualified easily.
Captain Sanju Samson and Dhruv Jurel have come good against LSG in a 190-run chase at Ekana. Earlier, RR have won the toss and elected to field first. With most of the teams aiming for 200 plus on every ground, even LSG wanted such a huge target to be set. This is a big difference from previous season where Ekana stadium has become home for low scoring thrillers.
But this year, like every ground, this one also started supporting big hitting to an extent. LSG stars Quinton de Kock(8) and Marcus Stoinis(0) failed, this time. KL Rahul found support in Deepak Hooda(50) and they have put LSG on track to hit 200. But rest all struggled and even KL Rahul couldn’t score a century which his team needed. He scored a good 76 but score remained at 196/5 in 20 overs.
In 197 chase, RR openers Yashasvi Jaiswal(24) and Jos Buttler(34). But the team looked in trouble losing three quick wickets along with Riyan Parag(14). Sanju Samson and Dhruv Jurel took their time early on but after understanding the pitch, they started their aggression. Dhruv Jurel(52) and Sanju Samson(71) took RR to winning shores without losing another wicket.
RR scored 199/3 and won the match by 7 wickets in 19 overs. With this win, they have become the first team to be qualified to IPL Playoffs and now, they would be looking to maintain their No.1 spot, as in this season, everything is working out for them as they planned and wished for. If they continue this form, they could become winners, too.