By Prakash Nair 
Jaipur, May 19: RR needed this one. Badly. And for long stretches of the evening, it looked like Jaipur might break their hearts one more time.
It did not.
They beat Lucknow Super Giants by seven wickets with five balls to spare, chasing down 221 on a ground where they had lost every single game this season. They are fourth on the table now. Fourteen points. One game left. Against Mumbai Indians on May 24, if they win that, they are through. No calculations. No waiting on other results. Just through.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Because tonight was not straightforward, and it deserves to be told properly.
LSG Came Here to Hurt Someone
Mitchell Marsh and Josh Inglis walked out to open for Lucknow and immediately made it clear they had not read the script where the eliminated side rolls over quietly.
Eighty-three runs in the powerplay. No wickets. Marsh was hitting it clean from the first over, the kind of timing that makes a bowling captain feel slightly sick. Inglis was even more brutal in short bursts, reaching his fifty off 23 balls before a young wrist-spinner called Yash Raj Punja bowled him with a googly on that awkward in-between length. Gone for 60 off 29. The wicket drew the biggest roar of the first innings from a crowd that had been nervously watching their bowlers get taken apart.
Punja was the find of the first innings, genuinely. Tall, composed, turning and skidding his googly in ways that clearly surprised the LSG batters. He is a net bowler who earned his place in this IPL squad through a Karnataka tournament, and tonight he looked like someone who belongs.
Marsh kept going after Inglis fell. Nicholas Pooran came and went for 16, drawn into a false shot by another Punja delivery. Rishabh Pant walked out at number four, pushing himself up the order after his strange non-appearance with the bat in LSG’s previous game, and made a purposeful 35 off 23. He looked like someone with something to prove, which to be fair, he did.
Then came the moment that summed up LSG’s season in one ball. Marsh, on 96, needing four runs for his third IPL century of the year, ran himself out on the penultimate delivery of the innings. Stranded mid-pitch. Ninety-six. The crowd let out a collective gasp that was half relief, half genuine sympathy for a batter who had played a truly brilliant innings and ended up with nothing to show for it. Jofra Archer cleaned up the tail on the final ball. LSG finished at 220 for 5.
Two hundred and twenty. In Jaipur. In a season where chasing teams had won every single match at this ground.
RR needed 221.
The Chase Nobody Will Forget in a Hurry
Yashasvi Jaiswal, stand-in captain, opened with Lhuan-dre Pretorius. And from the first few overs, something felt different. Jaiswal looked like himself again. Not the hesitant, scratchy version that had turned up for five straight innings. The real one. He hit Mohsin Khan for six, four, four, four in one over that had the Sawai Mansingh crowd completely unhinged. He was 37 off 16 at that point and the game was tilting.
Forty-three off 23 was his final contribution, caught behind off Akash Singh just after the powerplay, the ball nipping away outside off and finding the edge. It was not the century the occasion called for, but it was exactly the kind of innings the team needed from him. He did his job tonight. The armband did not weigh him down.
Then Sooryavanshi came in.
As an Impact substitute, which meant he batted at three rather than opening. And for about 12 balls he was, by his standards, watchful. Eleven off twelve at one point. The crowd was quiet. Patient. They had been here before with this boy.
Then something unlocked. A reverse-sweep for fifty that nobody quite expected. Then Akash Singh went for 24 in a single over, beaten for pace, beaten for angles, beaten in ways that make experienced IPL bowlers question their career choices. Sooryavanshi was barely looking up between deliveries, just picking his spot and hitting it there. A six over long-off. A pull over deep midwicket. The stadium was on its feet and staying there.
He reached 93 off 38 balls before Mohsin Khan finally got him. Slower ball outside off, Sooryavanshi cleared his front leg and went big, got it off the top edge, and Abdul Samad held a simple catch at long-on. Gone. The stadium fell quiet for exactly two seconds and then erupted into the kind of farewell applause that only happens when everyone in the ground knows they have just watched something special.
The RR dugout was on its feet patting his head when he came back in. Even Justin Langer, LSG’s own head coach, was clapping. The boy is 15 and he has hit more sixes this IPL than any Rajasthan batter in any season in the history of the franchise. Think about that for a moment.
Still. RR needed more. Pretorius ran himself out shortly after, and suddenly with 33 off 30 needed, the nerves came back.
Dhruv Jurel did not let them linger.
He batted the way he always bats, with that deceptive calmness that makes you think the game is already over before it actually is. He pulled Mayank Yadav for two sixes in the same over. He brought up his fifty with another pull over long leg that the crowd greeted like a match-winning boundary. Donovan Ferreira, who barely needed to do much, finished it with a six over the ropes off Shahbaz Ahmed. Five balls remaining. Seven wickets in hand.
Done.
What Happens Now
Rajasthan Royals are fourth. Punjab Kings have dropped to fifth. One game stands between RR and a confirmed playoff spot, and that game is against Mumbai Indians on Sunday.
Tonight belonged to several people. Punja for proving he is no accident. Jaiswal for playing the captain’s innings when it mattered. Sooryavanshi for 93 off 38 balls that will be talked about long after this tournament ends. And Jurel for being the quiet, steady presence who finished what everyone else started.
Lucknow tried. Marsh’s 96 was extraordinary, the kind of innings that wins matches on most nights. Inglis’s 60 set a terrifying platform. Two hundred and twenty should have been enough.
At this ground, on this night, against this team, it was short by five balls.
Stay ahead with Hindustan Herald — bringing you trusted news, sharp analysis, and stories that matter across Politics, Business, Technology, Sports, Entertainment, Lifestyle, and more.
Connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, YouTube, and join our Telegram community @hindustanherald for real-time updates.
Sports reporter covering cricket, football, and Olympic disciplines, with on-ground event experience.
- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
