Sanjiv Goenka jumps out of his seat to celebrate Avesh’s last-over heroics; Dravid’s helpless look sums it up for RR

For the second time in four days, Rajasthan Royals faltered in a chase that required nine runs in the final over.

After Mitchell Starc’s heroics for Delhi Capitals on Wednesday in Delhi, Lucknow Super Giants pacer Avesh Khan pulled off the act on Saturday against the Royals. But while it sparked a wild celebration from LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka, Rajasthan head coach Rahul Dravid sat helplessly after the team suffered their sixth defeat in the ongoing IPL 2025.

Riding on a third successive fifty from Yashasvi Jaiswal and a sensational debut from 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Rajasthan were cruising in the chase of 181, as they required 25 runs more in the final three overs. But that is when Avesh decided to make the match interesting. He dismissed both the set batters – Jaiswal and Riyan Parag – in the 18th over.

Shimron Hetmyer kept Rajasthan’s hopes alive with a couple of boundaries in the 19th over off Prince Yadav, bringing down the equation to 9 off 6, but Avesh held his nerves and produced a yorker masterclass as the Royals capitulated once again. He removed Hetmyer on the third ball and suffered a nasty blow on his hand to save crucial runs on the last ball as Lucknow won by just two runs.

Goenka jumped out of his seat as Lucknow prevailed in the thriller and wildly celebrated the win in the stand while there was despair in the RR camp. Dravid looked helpless in the dugout after another Rajasthan Royals’ defeat.

Can RR make a comeback in the second half of IPL 2025?

It hasn’t been the season for the inaugural IPL champions, who have lost six of their eight games so far to stand eighth in the points table. Four of those losses came in a chasing cause.

“Feeling a little hard to process the emotions, not sure what we did wrong. We were in the game till the 18-19th over. I probably should have finished it in the 19th over; I blame myself. We just have to put one game together collectively for 40 overs, only then can we win,” RR’s stand-in captain Parag said after the loss on Saturday.