Bowlers had some respite at the Ekana International Stadium in Lucknow on Saturday as the contest wasn’t just about batsmen of both teams bashing their way to bring up 200-plus totals with ridiculous ease. It was the Rajasthan Royals who won, their eight victory in nine games, beating the Lucknow Super Giants by three wickets to have one foot in the playoffs.

Captain Sanju Samson (71 not out off 33 balls), sending another timely reminder to the selectors ahead of India’s T20 World Cup squad selection, and the impressive Dhruv Jurel (52 not out off 34 balls) — scoring his maiden IPL and T20 fifty — forged an unbroken 121-run stand after Lucknow, put into bat, rode skipper KL Rahul’s 76 from 48 balls and Deepak Hooda’s 50 off 31 balls to post 196/5.

The Royals, in their reply, had slipped to 78/3 in the ninth over from 60/0 in the sixth. Samson did take his time to settle down in that critical phase, but with Jurel being confident at the other end, it took pressure off the Royals skipper.

Samson's brilliantly-paced innings helped the Royals home with an over to spare. A fair amount of credit also goes to pacer Sandeep Sharma (2/31) and the other Royals bowlers as they allowed Lucknow only two boundaries in the last four overs.