Marsh ton helps LSG stun RCB, keep IPL hopes alive

Rain made the maths messy, but Lucknow made the finish beautifully simple. Defend 20 off the last over, or watch the season slip away.

Lucknow Super Giants chose the harder road and survived. They beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 9 runs in a 19-over IPL 2026 game, keeping their playoff hopes alive.

For RCB, the defeat hurt twice. They lost the match, and they also missed a chance to climb to No. 1.

Marsh gives Lucknow real muscle

Mitchell Marsh played the innings Lucknow had been waiting for. He smashed 111 off 56 balls, with 9 fours and 9 sixes.

That is not just a big score. In a rain-shortened match, it is almost a weapon. Marsh gave Lucknow both speed and control.

He opened with Arshin Kulkarni, and the pair added 95 for the first wicket. Kulkarni made only 17 off 24 balls, but he helped Marsh settle.

Once Marsh found his range, RCB’s bowlers looked short of answers. Josh Hazlewood, Krunal Pandya and Rasikh Salam took 1 wicket each, but nobody really stopped the damage.

Nicholas Pooran added 38 off 23 balls, striking 4 fours and a six. Then Rishabh Pant arrived with the kind of cameo captains love.

Pant’s unbeaten 32 came off only 10 balls. He hit 4 fours and 2 sixes, lifting Lucknow to 209/3 in 19 overs.

In normal language, Lucknow did not just post a total. They created pressure before RCB even began.

RCB chase starts with a jolt

Rain brought the DLS method into play. That system adjusts targets when overs are reduced, based on wickets and scoring resources.

So RCB needed 213 in 19 overs, not 210. It looked steep, but this is RCB. With their batting, no chase feels dead early.

Then Mohammed Shami struck in the first over. Jacob Bethell fell for 4, and RCB had to restart quickly.

The bigger blow came in the second over. Prince Yadav removed Virat Kohli before he had scored.

That wicket changed the mood. A chase can survive losing one opener. Losing Kohli for 0 makes the dressing room quieter.

RCB suddenly needed calm heads, not just big shots. Devdutt Padikkal and captain Rajat Patidar gave them exactly that.

They added 95 in 53 balls for the third wicket. It was smart batting, not blind hitting.

Padikkal made 35 off 25 balls. Patidar went further, scoring 61 off 31 balls and pulling RCB back into the contest.

Prince Yadav breaks the chase

Prince Yadav’s second spell decided the shape of the chase. He had already removed Kohli, but his later wickets hurt more.

He dismissed Padikkal just when the partnership looked settled. In the same over, he removed Jitesh Sharma too.

That double strike forced RCB to rebuild again. In a 19-over chase, rebuilding twice is expensive.

Prince finished with 3 wickets, the best return for Lucknow. His spell gave Pant control when RCB threatened to run away.

Shahbaz Ahmed then did his part. He removed Patidar after a sharp half-century and later dismissed Tim David.

David’s 40 off 17 balls had brought RCB right back. His wicket turned the game again.

That is the rhythm of T20 cricket now. One over changes fear into belief, and the next changes belief into panic.

RCB still had Krunal Pandya and Romario Shepherd at the crease. Both can hit straight, and both can ruin bowling plans.

Krunal made 28 off 16 balls. Shepherd scored 23 off 15 balls. Together, they dragged the match into the final over.

Pant trusts Rathi at the death

This is where Pant’s captaincy came into sharp focus. RCB needed 20 from the last over, with Shepherd still there.

Many captains would want pace at that point. Pant gave the ball to Digvesh Rathi, a spinner facing a dangerous finisher.

It was a bold call, because one bad ball could vanish. At the Chinnaswamy, it might be a gamble. In Lucknow, it still needed nerve.

Rathi conceded only 10 runs. He did not try magic. He trusted his length, his field, and the pressure of the scoreboard.

That over sealed Lucknow’s 9-run win. It also justified Pant’s read of the moment.

Captains often get judged by batting numbers and stump-mic clips. But matches like this turn on quieter choices.

Who bowls the last over? Who gets protection on the boundary? Who can handle a batter waiting for one mistake?

Pant answered those questions correctly here. For a side fighting to stay alive, that matters as much as Marsh’s hundred.

Playoff race stays uncomfortable

Lucknow are still alive, but only just. This win keeps them in the playoff conversation, with conditions attached.

That phrase, “mathematical chance,” can sound dry. For players, it means training still has edge. For fans, it means hope still has oxygen.

RCB will look at this match with irritation. They had the chase under control after Patidar and Padikkal settled.

They also had Tim David firing late. Then they let the middle overs slip, and the final over became too much.

For defending champions, these are the matches that leave a mark. A top-place chance does not come every week.

RCB’s larger worry is not one defeat. It is how quickly the chase depended on late hitting after early wickets.

Kohli’s duck will get attention, as it always does. But the deeper issue was the gap between recovery and finish.

Patidar’s 61 deserved support until the end. David’s burst deserved a cleaner platform. Instead, RCB kept losing control at key moments.

For Lucknow, the message is simpler. Marsh gave them a total. Prince gave them breakthroughs. Rathi gave them the final word.

That combination keeps a season breathing.

The IPL table will still ask Lucknow difficult questions. Net run rate, other results, and remaining fixtures will all matter now. But for one night, they did enough. In a league built on narrow margins, surviving by 9 runs can feel like finding another week of life.