Rajasthan Royals

But Patel immediately bounced back by having Ashwin slog straight to deep mid-wicket and gave away two singles on the last two balls to secure a seven-run win. Asked by fellow pacer Mohammed Siraj in a video posted on IPL's social media accounts, Patel said he had it in his mind to bowl difficult balls.

After losing two wickets early in the Power-play, Du Plessis and Maxwell held the fort and stitched a 127-run stand for the third wicket. After the duo was dismissed within two overs, RCB lost the next five wickets in quick succession. Put in to bat first, RCB suffered two early blows in the form of Virat Kohli and Shahbaz Ahmed. Then, Faf du Plessis and Glen Maxwell got into the rebuilding act and took the Power-play score to 62/2.

While RR stuck to the same playing XI, RCB made one change as David Willey came in for Wayne Parnell. "Looking at the conditions, our side and their side. So we'd prefer bowling. The dressing room is simple, honest and we need to respect the way we are playing. We are starting with the same XI, might add someone later on," RR skipper Sanju Samson said at the toss.

In his four overs, Lucknow Super Giants leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi didn't take a wicket but gave away only 25 runs. In the 17th over, Riyan Parag and Devdutt Padikkal struggled to score big off Bishnoi, who conceded only six runs to inch Lucknow closer towards victory on a two-paced pitch.

Avesh Khan and Stoinis ended up with figures of 3/25 and 2/28 respectively as table-toppers Rajasthan Royals, who were looking on course for victory in their chase of Lucknow's 154/7, were restricted to 144/6 in their 20 overs, losing the match by 10 runs.

At the mid-stage of the game, Rajasthan keeping Lucknow to 154/7 in 20 overs looked like a below-par total on a two-paced pitch. Till the 11th over, Rajasthan didn't lose any wicket and seemed to be cruising towards the target. But Stoinis taking out both openers got the match in Lucknow's favour and from there, the boundaries began to dry up as required run-rate climbed up, resulting in Rajasthan making 144/6 in their 20 overs.

From there, Rajasthan bowlers, led by Ravichandran Ashwin's 2/23 and a terrific last over from Sandeep Sharma, kept things tight. Despite some big overs, Lucknow never got the desired finishing kick, with Mayers being the standout performer though he struggled to time the ball for a large part of his stay at the crease.

It is also the first time Jaipur will be hosting an IPL match after three years, 11 months and 22 days. Rajasthan, the table-toppers, enter Wednesday's match on the back of beating Gujarat Titans by three wickets in Ahmedabad while second-ranked Lucknow arrive after losing to Punjab Kings by two wickets at home.

To mark the return of the popular cricket league, special arrangements have been made in the stadium for the spectators. For the first time, spectators will be able to watch the players without nets between the stands and the ground. For this, the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) has installed special transparent glasses in place of the nets in the stadium. Also, two new seating boxes have been put up in the stadium.

With seven runs needed off the final over, the big-hitting West Indies batter said he was focused on taking two runs on the very first ball to see what happens next. It exactly happened the same way as Hetmyer got to his fifty in 25 balls and finished off the chase by pulling Ahmad over deep mid-wicket for six.