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Pace bowlers Jofra Archer and Nandre Burger shared five wickets between them while Ravindra Jadeja produced an all-round performance as Rajasthan Royals defended a modest total of 159 to beat Lucknow Super Giants by 40 runs in the IPL Wednesday. Burger, a left-handed quick from South Africa, struck two key blows including Mitchell Marsh for 55, and Archer took 3-20 to bundle out hosts Lucknow for 119 at the Ekana Stadium. Rajasthan bounced back from successive defeats to jump to second in the table led by Punjab Kings. Lucknow faltered in the chase after losing three early wickets, with skipper Rishabh Pant and Aiden Markram both out for a duck. Burger had Pant caught behind in his first over before Markram miscued from Archer and skied a catch to wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel. Australia’s Marsh attempted to rescue Punjab with Nicholas Pooran (22) and then impact substitute Himmat Singh, who scored 15. Marsh reached his fifty with a six off Burger but the bowler got his revenge two balls later when the opener mishit a shot and skipper Riyan Parag took a good catch. Medium-pace bowler Brijesh Sharma took two wickets in an over to further corner Lucknow, who survived just 18 overs in their fourth straight defeat. Archer, who reached a top speed of 151.6 km/h (94.2 mph), mopped up the final two wickets to seal victory for Rajasthan. Jadeja top-scored for Royals with his unbeaten 43 off 29 balls, an effort that steered Rajasthan to 159-6 after they had slumped to 110-6. Mohammed Shami struck two early blows with successive deliveries to dismiss Yashasvi Jaiswal (22) and Jurel for a duck. Fellow quick Mohsin Khan then removed 15-year-old T20 sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for eight to further hamper Rajasthan. Shami, Mohsin and Prince Yadav claimed two wickets each but Jadeja kept up the fight and put on an unbeaten stand of 49 for the seventh wicket with impact substitute Shubham Dubey, who made 19. Shimron Hetmyer (22), Parag and Donovan Ferreira - who both scored 20 - also contributed to the Rajasthan total. BRIEF SCORESRajasthan Royals 159 for 6 (Jadeja 43*, Mohsin 2-17) beat Lucknow Super Giants 119 (Marsh 55, Archer 3-20, Burger 2-27, Brijesh 2-18) by 40 runs 

Quinton de Kock hit a brilliant century and Nandre Burger grabbed four wickets as South Africa thumped Pakistan by eight wickets in their second one-day international Thursday.Playing his second ODI after reversing his 2023 decision to retire from the format, the dashing De Kock smashed an unbeaten 123 to anchor a 270-run chase with 9.5 overs in spare at Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad. South African victory levelled the three-match series at 1-1 after Pakistan won the first match by two wickets. The third and final match is on Saturday, all in Faisalabad.De Kock put on a solid 81 for the opening wicket with Lhuan-dre Pretorius (46), before compiling a 153-run stand for the second wicket with Tony de Zorzi, who scored an attractive 63-ball 76.The left-handed trio took the attack to Pakistan’s pace quartet, with De Kock knocking eight fours and seven sixes while Pretorius had seven boundaries and one maximum.De Kock reached his 22nd ODI hundred with a couple off a luckless Mohammad Wasim, who saw Mohammad Nawaz drop the wicketkeeper-batter on 15. De Zorzi sped up the scoring rate with three sixes and nine boundaries before he was caught off Faheem Ashraf with 36 needed. Skipper Matthew Breetzke took the winning single, making 17 not out.“I set myself high goals so I am happy to bat well today,” said De Kock. “I think Nandre set us well with early wickets and then we batted well to chase that down.”Earlier, South African fast bowler Burger registered his best ODI figures of 4-46 to keep the home team down to 269-9.The 30-year-old ripped out Pakistan’s first three wickets in his opening three overs after the hosts won the toss and batted.From 22-3, however, the hosts rebuilt the innings and half-centuries from opener Saim Ayub and Salman Agha, who added 92 for the fourth wicket, and later from Nawaz helped them to a fighting total. Burger struck with his third delivery, having opener Fakhar Zaman caught behind by De Kock for a duck.He then struck twice in his third over: crowd favourite Babar Azam was caught in the slips for 11 from the first ball and four balls later Mohammad Rizwan chopped on to his stumps for four. Ayub hit 53 off 66 balls with a six and five fours, while Agha made a more docile 69 from 106 deliveries with five boundaries as the pair revived the innings. Ayub hit his second ODI fifty before giving Corbin Bosch a return catch in the 25th over, while Agha was bowled by Bosch in the 41st.Down the order, Nawaz blasted a run-a-ball 59 with four sixes and three fours while all-rounder Faheem made 28 as Pakistan plundered 90 runs in the final 10 overs.“I think we put up a good total but did not bowl and field well,” said Shaheen. “We will come back strongly.”BRIEF SCORES: South Africa 270 for 2 (de Kock 123*, de Zorzi 76, Ashreef 1-40) beat Pakistan 269 for 9 (Agha 69, Nawaz 59, Burger 4-46) by eight wickets.