The match was supposed to be an unofficial test for two keeper-batters who are in contention for a spot in India's T20 World Cup squad. In the end, both, who are also the captains of their respective IPL teams, passed the test, not with the same result though.

While Sanju Samson was all about flair and flourish in his 82 not out off 52 balls, KL Rahul, who was making a return after a long injury layoff, began cautiously before freeing his arms for his 58 off 44 balls. Samson was also the happier captain as Rajasthan Royals began their IPL 2024 campaign with 20-run win over KL's Lucknow Super Giants in Jaipur on Sunday.

Samson hit six sixes and three fours to push forward his team's score despite losing two wickets in the Powerplay. He forged a 93-run partnership with Riyan Parag (43 off 29 balls) which formed the backbone of their innings as Rajasthan put up a challenging 193/4 in 20 overs.

Lucknow stumbled early, losing three wickets inside the Powerplay. They were 11/3 at one stage and though they recovered with fine knocks from Rahul and Nicholas Pooran (64 not out off 41 balls), they eventually ran out of steam in their chase, finishing on 173/6.

Rahul, who did not think the target was too big to chase, did not want to read too much into his team's failure in the Powerplay overs.

"It is just the first game and I am not going to make too much out of it or over-analyse. Powerplay is crucial for every team, and I don't think any team has cracked it yet," the Lucknow skipper said after the match.

Rahul also kept wickets for his team, thereby making a statement on his current fitness following a quadriceps injury which kept him out of top-level action for quite some time.

Rajasthan's left-arm pace duo of Trent Boult (2/35) and IPL debutant Nandre Burger (1/30) made the life of the Lucknow top-order batters difficult, making good use of IPL's new rule of two-bouncers-per-over.

Despite the early setback, Lucknow fought back with Rahul and Pooran's partnership reviving their hopes. They needed 49 runs from the last four overs and had two set batters at the crease.

But Rajasthan seamer Sandeep Sharma, a death-overs specialist, put a spanner in Lucknow's works, by dismissing Rahul off the first ball of the 17th over.

Rajasthan's spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal also got a wicket each.