Mitchell Marsh century keeps LSG alive, denies RCB No 1

A 20-run final over sounds comfortable until Romario Shepherd is holding the bat. That is when captains earn their reputation.

Rishabh Pant chose Digvesh Rathi for that over, with Royal Challengers Bengaluru still sniffing a chase. Rathi gave away only 10. Lucknow Super Giants won by 9 runs, and suddenly their IPL 2026 campaign still had a pulse.

For Royal Challengers Bengaluru, this defeat hurt twice. They lost the match, and they missed a chance to climb to No. 1.

Marsh gives Lucknow the launchpad

Mitchell Marsh played the innings Lucknow needed before their season slipped away. He smashed 111 off 56 balls, with 9 fours and 9 sixes.

That is not just a century. That is a dressing-room reset button.

Lucknow Super Giants began with Marsh and Arshin Kulkarni. The opening pair added 95, even though Kulkarni struggled for rhythm. He made 17 off 24 balls, but his stay allowed Marsh to attack without panic.

Marsh did the heavy lifting with clean, straight hitting. On a night shortened to 19 overs a side by rain, that kind of innings changes the maths completely.

Nicholas Pooran then added 38 off 23 balls. He hit 4 fours and 1 six, keeping the pressure on RCB’s bowlers.

Then came Pant’s little explosion at the end. He made 32 not out from just 10 balls, striking at 320. His 4 fours and 2 sixes pushed Lucknow to 209 for 3 in 19 overs.

RCB’s bowlers had little to celebrate. Josh Hazlewood, Krunal Pandya and Rasikh Salam picked 1 wicket each, but nobody really controlled the scoring.

RCB’s chase begins badly

Because rain had changed the match length, RCB’s target became 213 under the Duckworth-Lewis method. In plain English, the target was adjusted because both teams did not get a normal 20-over innings.

That target was steep, but not impossible at the Chinnaswamy-style pace of modern T20 cricket. The problem was the start.

Mohammed Shami removed Jacob Bethell in the first over for 4. Then Prince Yadav struck in the second over, sending Virat Kohli back for a duck.

For any chasing side, losing both openers inside 2 overs is like starting a race with shoelaces tied.

RCB needed calm after that. Devdutt Padikkal and captain Rajat Patidar gave them exactly that for a while.

They added 95 runs in 53 balls for the third wicket. The chase, which looked shaky at 2 early wickets, suddenly had shape again.

Prince Yadav changes the night

Prince Yadav’s spell became the turning point. He had already dismissed Kohli, but his bigger work came when RCB looked settled.

In the 11th over, he removed Padikkal for 35 off 25 balls. That broke a partnership that had brought RCB back into the match.

In the same over, he also dismissed Jitesh Sharma. Two wickets in one over, at that stage of a chase, can change the mood of an entire dugout.

Yadav finished as Lucknow’s best wicket-taker with 3 wickets. It was the kind of spell selectors remember, especially because it came against a strong batting line-up.

Shahbaz Ahmed then did his part. He dismissed Patidar for 61 off 31 balls, ending RCB’s most fluent innings of the night.

Patidar’s knock had kept the chase alive. He scored quickly, found the boundary, and gave RCB a proper chance despite the poor start.

Shahbaz also removed Tim David, who had raced to 40 off 17 balls. That wicket mattered because David can finish games in a hurry once he gets set.

At that point, Lucknow had not won the game. But they had removed the two men most likely to take it away.

Pant’s final-over gamble works

Krunal Pandya and Romario Shepherd still kept RCB interested. Krunal made 28 off 16 balls. Shepherd added 23 off 15.

The equation came down to 20 runs from the final over. In T20 cricket, that is difficult, not impossible. With Shepherd at the crease, it was very much alive.

Pant could have gone with pace. Instead, he gave the ball to Digvesh Rathi. That was brave, because a spinner in the final over has very little hiding space.

One missed length, and the ball can disappear into the stands.

Rathi held his nerve. He conceded only 10 runs, kept Shepherd quiet enough, and closed out a 9-run win.

That final over will please Lucknow more than the scorecard shows. Teams fighting for survival need more than stars. They need lesser-known players to handle ugly, tense moments.

This was one of those moments.

For Pant too, the call matters. Captains often get blamed when such gambles fail. Here, his trust in Rathi turned into 2 precious points.

Playoff race stays messy

This result keeps Lucknow alive, but only through a tricky route. Their playoff hopes now depend on their own remaining matches and other teams slipping.

That is never a comfortable place to be. But it is far better than being out.

RCB, meanwhile, missed a chance to strengthen their place at the top. As defending champions, they know the league stage is about timing as much as talent.

Peaking early can bring applause. Peaking at the right time brings trophies.

Their batting depth still looks dangerous. Patidar, David, Krunal and Shepherd nearly made a match out of a broken chase. But the early wickets exposed the risk of depending too much on recovery acts.

For Lucknow, Marsh’s century gives them belief. Prince Yadav’s spell gives them a new talking point. Rathi’s final over gives them a story to carry into the next game.

That matters in the IPL. Momentum is not a statistic, but every player knows when the dressing room feels lighter.

For fans, this was another reminder of why the league table can lie for weeks. One over can change a season’s mood. One young bowler can make a captain look wise. And one defeat can turn a top-spot race into a nervous wait.