Lucknow Super Giants captain K.L. Rahul has been fined for a Code of Conduct breach due to his team's slow over-rate during their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match against the Rajasthan Royals. The match took place at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.
The Indian Premier League informed in a statement that this was the team's first offence of the season under the IPL's Code of Conduct relating to minimum over-rate offences. Rahul was fined Rs 12 lakh as a result.
In the match, Rajasthan Royals had a strong start with an 87-run opening partnership between Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler. However, Lucknow Super Giants bowlers, led by Avesh Khan's 3/25 and Marcus Stoinis' 2/28, put up an impressive performance and helped their team win by ten runs on Wednesday.
Despite Kyle Mayers making 51, Rajasthan managed to keep Lucknow to 154/7 at the mid-stage of the game, which seemed like a below-par total on a two-paced pitch. However, Stoinis took out both openers in the 11th over, which got the match in Lucknow's favour, and Rajasthan lost four wickets for 32 runs from overs 12-17. Lucknow bowlers used conditions and big leg-side boundary to dry up runs as the required run rate climbed up, resulting in Rajasthan ending at 144/6 in 20 overs.
With Lucknow Super Giants' win, they have leveled with Rajasthan on points and retained their second place in the points table. Additionally, 154/7 is now the lowest defended total of the season so far.