As it happened: Lucknow Super Giants vs Rajasthan Royals, IPL 2022, Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai

Rajasthan Royals are happy to have four No. 11s in their line-up. And this is why. Each of them - led by Trent Boult - produced a match-winning contribution and this one will taste ever so sweet because they have taken a massive step towards the IPL playoffs. They knocked the stuffing out of Lucknow Super Giants, who in all likelihood will be one of the teams they will meet in those knockout matches later this month. So this win - defending 178 - isn't just that, it's something to carry forward.

Deepak Hooda addresses that with two fours through the course of the 15th and 16th overs. He's got to fifty now and holds a lot of their hopes in this game. Marcus Stoinis is at the other end.

Scratch that, Hooda is out stumped off the last ball of the 16th over. Beautiful from Chahal. He saw the batter charging out. He angled the ball into his pads, denying him the room to swing his arms. Hooda only gets an inside edge that deflects off his pads to the keeper and he does the rest.

Samson, oddly enough, is worried he might have broken the bails without the ball in hand. Hooda, having been completely deceived, doesn't even think of that possibility. He's still way out of his crease as Samson fumbles around with the ball and eventually pulls the whole stump out of the ground.

Replay however shows he got him out the first time itself.

LSG still need 63 off 24 balls.

How cool is he?

Royals' biggest match-winner this season might just have broken this game too.

He's down at long-on. He sees Krunal Pandya charge at R Ashwin and launch the ball in his direction.

He runs to his right. He's skirting the boundary edge. There's barely inches between his feet and the advertising triangles.

He leaps up. Takes the catch above his head. Then, knowing his momentum is going to take him past the field of play, coolly relays the ball over to Parag, who had the presence of mind to run in from long-off.

Deepak Hooda is a spin-hitter and he is taking down one of the best in the business.

Yuzvendra Chahal has never been afraid to toss the ball up. He's done that against Glenn Maxwell. He's done that against Kieron Pollard. He's done that against MS Dhoni. He does that to Hooda here and he disappears.

Chahal is the IPL's second-highest wicket-taker right now so he won't be taking a backwards step.

Hooda, meanwhile, has been one of the IPL's perennial itinerants, never establishing his place in any of the teams he's played for.

Before this season started, he was in the news for getting into a very public disagreement with his state captain, who he's now batting with.

A player with so many gifts, foremost among them his long reach and plenty of power, should be dominating this tournament. But on occasion his decision-making his let him down.

At LSG, it seems he's been given the confidence to play the way he likes. He's been given responsibility too, batting at No. 3. When you've spent a long time wondering if you'll ever make it, and suddenly someone (Gambhir and Flower and Rahul) comes along and gives you that kind of trust, you will never want to let them down.

Royals well and truly in this game and Prasidh knows it. He was the aggrieved bowler when McCoy didn't go for the catch in the second over.

He's the aggrieved bowler again when Rahul plays one of the shots of the tournament - a regal cover drive against seriously high pace that goes all the way for six - and then holds the pose.

But two balls later, he tries to cut a ball that is a touch too close to his body and perhaps also bounces a little too high to properly control, and is caught at point. LSG 34 for 3 in six overs. LSG's win probability at the fall of their captain's wicket is 9.4%

Royals have their early wicket(s). Trent Boult gets Quinton de Kock caught at point with a long hop.

Ayush Badoni, who has been finishing matches for LSG, comes in at No. 3 to see if he can try to dictate the course of one.

But he's caught plumb in front with a left-armer's special, a full length ball angled across the right-hander to bring his leg in line with the stumps.

Then it's all about the inswing. LSG 15 for 2. But oh they could have been 15 for 3.

KL Rahul has contributed 421 runs to the eight wins his team has this season. That's more than 30%. He is among the biggest wickets in the IPL.

He gave the Royals a chance in the second over. A top-edged cut shot goes to Obed McCoy at deep third man. It isn't carrying to him. He has a choice to make. Does he come forward to attempt the catch and risk a boundary. Or does he stay back and save the runs. All he has is a split second to decide.

That's not enough time for rational thought. If it was, McCoy would have been able to realise it's better to go for the catch. Four runs is well worth the gamble if it there's a chance he could dismiss an opposition player who has contributed 30% of their runs in a winning cause.

It's the sort of total both teams will be happy with going into the break.

Royals, because for all their stuttering, they have imposed a required rate of nearly 9.

Super Giants, because they know it could have been much worse when Jaiswal and Samson were batting together.

Trent Boult's boundaries in the 19th over, btw, had the dug out in splits. The things T20 cricket gives us.

Into the bowlers. With 2.5 overs still left to play.

Neesham is still out there but now he has to bat with R Ashwin and the tail.

Scratch that, Neesham's gone. Run-out. It's just Ashwin and the No. 11s now.

Horrible mix up and it looks like it's Ashwin's fault. He hit the ball to the right of cover and set off. There is a single there and Neesham has covered more than half the ground he needs to when he looks up and sees his partner hesitating. At that point, Neesham tries to get past Ashwin to protect his wicket because he is the more recognised batter. Ashwin realises this and takes a few steps forward too, preparing to sacrifice his wicket. But they didn't move quick enough. When the throw came to Bishnoi at the bowler's end and he broke the stumps, Neesham was closer to the bowler's end and so he's out.

Royals have a fine fast bowling attack and this pitch definitely had something in it in the first three or four overs.

This game's prolly not done yet.

He almost had him.

Riyan Parag overbalances as he tries to flick a googly behind square leg.

de Kock, who is completely blinded by the batter, moves smoothly to his left and collects the ball. That's all practice and instinct. Years of it.

Then he delays the swing of his hand onto the stumps, waiting for that moment when the overbalancing batter's back foot goes up.

He was so close. Replays show Parag's toe lands back inside the crease almost at the same time de Kock breaks the stumps.

That's Badoni, Bishnoi and Krunal for LSG between from the start of the 12th over to the end of the 16th. Thirty-four runs in 30 balls and two wickets. They are super switched on tonight. Royals 137 for 4 in 16 overs. We're into the death. ESPNcricinfo Forecaster says they can get to 173.

All those options that LSG have are coming into play now.

Bishnoi, who bowled a poor first over, was quickly taken off. Because LSG had other options.

And those other options - Rahul has used eight bowlers today! - provided the breakthrough.

Now with the pressure mounting on the Royals, Rahul goes back to his wicket-taking wristspinner and he responds by dismissing Padikkal.

Super Giants will go through to the playoffs if they win this game, potentially even sealing a top-two spot. And they look well up for it.

And the pendulum swings again!

Part timer Ayush Badoni gets rid of Yashasvi Jaiswal, tempting the left-hander into a slog which goes straight up instead of over midwicket.

The bowler himself runs across to his right a little bit to take the catch. Lovely stuff. There was just enough dip on that offbreak to ruin Jaiswal's attempts to hit a six.

Clever from LSG. They threw the part-timer at Royals' big gun, daring him to take Badoni down. Jasiwal tried. He failed. Royals 107 for 3 in 12 overs. Riyan Parag at the crease. Neesham and Ashwin in the hut.

Welp. Looks like Devdutt Padikkal hasn't read the script.

It says he's supposed to eat up dot balls.

But in he comes and smashes Marcus Stoinis around to reset the game.

LSG thought they could sneak a quiet over from their allrounder, who is known more for his batting than his bowling. #Bestlaidplans.

Just as the game is starting to get away from Super Giants, their Super Giant knocks out Samson.

Jason Holder stands 2.01m tall. The work he does makes him seem even taller. He's as unselfish a cricketer as there has ever been, often taking on the toughest job. He's stared down AB de Villiers. He's done in Virat Kohli. And now, here, he takes out the opposition captain.

Royals were starting to go from both ends. But now they'll have to slow down. Now Jaiswal will have other things to worry about than just hitting that ball out of the park. Remember, Royals' batting order stops have a 7. That's R Ashwin. After that there's just the four No. 11s.

Wow. As good as Royals - and Samson in particular - have been against spin. This is brutal.

Ravi Bishnoi comes on in the eighth over. He missed LSG's last game so you'd imagine he wants to get that first ball right.

Nope.

Samson makes just the slightest bit of room and turns a ball that wasn't really great to begin with into utter rubbish. Four over cover.

Next ball is in the slot too and the Royals captain launches it to long-off. Needed a diving save to stop it from going for four.

The fourth one is a flat and fast long hop. A clear sign that Samson is in the bowler's head. He's making Bishnoi second-guess himself. "Can't go full to this guy. Just can't"

The over ends with a guhh-looooooorious inside out drive over cover. Samson the spin-hitter rolls on.

Aw, and it's a simple one too. Straight to short fine leg and Mohsin Khan mucks it up. Royals should have been 29 for 2 in the fifth over.

Lovely, sustained pressure from Super Giants, and Avesh has been at the forefront. His game really has come on massively over the last couple of years.

From having nothing but pace on his side in his early years, a proper grind in domestic cricket has taught him how to be one step ahead of the batter.

The pace is still up - he beat Jaiswal with a corker of a ball, pitching on a good length on middle stump and storming past the outside edge like the ball was offended the batter actually thought he could hit it - but he's mixing his lines and his lengths better.

Btw, this is how Jaiswal celebrated his second chance.

Chameera taken for 21 runs in the last over of the powerplay. Royals 51 for 1. In the space of six balls, Jaiswal has stolen the advantage (and made one of those balls - the six over square leg - literally disappear). Brilliant batting.

Mohsin Khan. Four dot balls in the first over, one of which was a play and miss outside off from Yashasvi Jaiswal

Dushmantha Chameera beat Jos Buttler on the inside edge, and even better, he kept him very very quiet. No room to free the arms. Nothing short to get under.

This is a good new-ball pitch. There's plenty of carry and, crucially, just enough movement for both the Lucknow Super Giants bowlers. The pressure keeps building on the Rajasthan Royals openers and it eventually leads to...

... a get-out-of-jail shot. Buttler goes for the scoop, but the ball is too full for it. He can't connect and Avesh Khan shatters the stumps. The IPL 2022's top run-getter is gone.

In comes Sanju Samson at No. 3

Maruti Suzuki ASKcricinfo stat: Given we're going to be seeing him live in just a bit, how has Avesh Khan done in each phase in IPL 2022?

James Neesham is playing only his second game of the season. The last time he spent a sustained period of time on a cricket pitch was back in March, when he was playing for the Wellington Firebirds in New Zealand domestic cricket. Tough situation to come in. Tough role to play without any continuity.

But then again, he's a very very stubborn cricketer. Didn't give in to those voices that said he was done and as reward for that he ended in at a World Cup final. He'll be pumped for this, and may well be feeling like he has a point to prove after losing his NZ central contract.

Rajasthan Royals: 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Jos Buttler, 3 Devdutt Padikkal, 4 Sanju Samson (capt & wk), 5 James Neesham, 6 Riyan Parag, 7 R Ashwin, 8 Trent Boult, 9 Prasidh Krishna, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Obed McCoy

Lucknow Super Giants: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 KL Rahul (capt), 3 Deepak Hooda, 4 Krunal Pandya, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Ayush Badoni, 7 Jason Holder, 8 Ravi Bishnoi, 9 Mohsin Khan, 10 Dushmantha Chameera, 11 Avesh Khan

"Don't miss me too much," Shimron Hetmyer said as he left the Royals to go be a father for the first time. The 25-year old has been a supreme addition to this line-up which, thanks to an excellent auction, has strength all across the board.

But when one domino falls...

That's the thing, isn't it, with champion teams? They don't just have a great first XI. They have back-ups. This will be a test of the Royals' bench. And their tactics. How will they overcome the loss of such a crucial player at such a crucial time?

2022 is not a kind year. We're losing a lot of good people and earlier today we had to say goodbye to Andrew Symonds, a man who played the game simply for the fun of it. People don't hit the ball as hard as Roy did if they were just focused on the technique and temperament and all that stuff. They can only do that if they still retained the child inside them. The child that first held a cricket bat and thought, "hey, how cool is this."