It was a day of Kuldeeps in IPL 2022 on Sunday. In the afternoon game, it was Kuldeep Yadav who scalped three wickets to guide DC to win over KKR and in the evening a young debutant from Madhya Pradesh named Kuldeep Sen pulled off a thrilling win for Rajasthan Royals over Lucknow Super Giants.
On debut, Kuldeep defended 15 off the last over against an in-form Marcus Stoinis, who had smashed Prasidh Krishna for 19 runs and 15 in the over before.
Sen gave 11 and it turned out to be a match-winning effort from the youngster.
Lucknow, chasing 166, could manage only 162/8 in the end.
Here's how RR fans reacted to Kuldeep Sen's effort:
Kartik Tyagi last year. Kuldeep Sen this year. #LoveToSee Rajasthan Royals trust their young ones for the 20th over. #IPL2022
— Sreshth Shah (@sreshthx) April 10, 2022
Ayush Badoni. Sai Sudarshan, Jitesh Sharma and now Kuldeep Sen. Just some of the newcomers dazzling this year. What a fantastic crop of new players.
— Joy Bhattacharjya (@joybhattacharj) April 10, 2022
Rooster plucked, Kuldeep Sen the plucker!#RRvLSG___#IPL2022 https://t.co/oLneWlJbH9
— Nakul Pande (@NakulMPande) April 10, 2022
Another young Indian fast bowler steps into the limelight. And he looks good does Kuldeep Sen
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 10, 2022
Serious fight in that performance! What a first IPL match for Kuldeep Sen, @SHetmyer special once again and I've run out of words for @yuzi_chahal already _#HallaBol
— Jake Lush McCrum (@JakeLushMcCrum) April 10, 2022
LSG needed 13 runs off the last six deliveries but debutant Kuldeep Sen, a young right-arm pacer from Madhya Pradesh, bowled superbly to deny Stoinis the chance to become the hero.
Earlier, a brilliant late onslaught by Shimron Hetmyer (59 not out off 36 balls) and a tactical switch by R Ashwin, who became the first player in IPL history to get retired out, helped Rajasthan Royals reach a modest 165/6 in 20 overs.
Hetmyer and Ashwin came together with Rajasthan struggling at 67/4 and raised 68 runs in the partnership for the fifth wicket to take their team to safety.
With just 10 deliveries to go, Ashwin got `retired out` after giving the strike to Hetmyer. The West Indies batsman struck three sixes, two of them off successive balls of AVesh Khan, as Royals raised 78 runs in the last five overs.
They went on to defend that small total thanks to their bowling depth.
With IANS inputs
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