Markram, Badoni fifties give RR a 181-run target

Aiden Markram kicked a stuttering Lucknow Super Giants innings into high gears, helping them recover from 54 for 3 in the eighth over to post 180 after opting to bat against Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur.

Markram top-scored with 66, combining superbly with Ayush Badoni, who made a 33-ball half-century. Having not started in the bat-first XI, Badoni was pressed into action as an Impact Sub for Mitchell Marsh when LSG felt they needed some stability, before David Miller and Abdul Samad were unleashed the death.

Badoni's entry in the ninth over meant LSG couldn't unveil pace sensation Mayank Yadav for his first game. Yadav, who broke through last year after clocking speeds regularly in excess of 150 clicks, had just returned from an extensive rehab for multiple injuries.

Badoni, though, didn't disappoint. Having earned a lbw reprieve through an umpire's call in the 10th over on 7, he picked up pace in the 11th over when he hit Sandeep Sharma for back-to-back fours. At the other end, Markram sensationally countered Wanindu Hasaranga first, hitting him for back-to-back sixes, and then taking the attack to Maheesh Theekshana.

The pair put on 76 off just 49 balls when Markram holed out to long-off, having hit five fours and three sixes in his 45-ball knock. Hasaranga ended the evening with figures of 4-0-31-2.

His first wicket was arguably his biggest, of Rishabh Pant after he struggled to manoeuver the ball, eventually put out of his misery when he was caught behind trying to reverse-sweep a googly. Pant made 3 off 9.

LSG's start was scratchy as Jofra Archer, bowling full-tilt and hitting the deck with venom, had Mitchell Marsh top edge a pull to Shimron Hetmyer in the 3rd over. Nicholas Pooran was reprieved on 6 when Shubham Dubey put down a skier at square leg off Archer, but fell after adding just 5 when he was completely flummoxed by Sandeep Sharma's slower ball.

Sandeep's finish would be as eventful, except he was at the receiving end of Samad's sensational final-overs onslaught (he made 30 off 10). Samad showed why he was held back, pummelling four sixes in a final over that went for 27 to give LSG momentum at the break.