Marsh century keeps LSG alive as RCB miss top spot

A 20-run final over can make even seasoned IPL watchers sit up straight.

At Lucknow, Rishabh Pant handed the ball to Digvesh Rathi with Romario Shepherd still alive. The match had already swung twice. One clean Shepherd over could have taken Royal Challengers Bengaluru to No. 1.

Rathi gave away only 10. Lucknow Super Giants beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 9 runs. More importantly, LSG stayed alive in IPL 2026, even if their road still needs help from other results.

Marsh gives Lucknow a platform

Mitchell Marsh set up the night with a brutal 111 from 56 balls. He hit 9 fours and 9 sixes, which tells you the rhythm of the innings.

This was not a polite hundred built on nudges. Marsh kept clearing the rope and forced RCB’s bowlers into defensive plans early.

Arshin Kulkarni played the quieter hand at the other end. His 17 from 24 balls looked slow on paper, but the opening stand still reached 95.

That start gave Lucknow permission to attack later. Nicholas Pooran then added 38 from 23 balls, keeping the innings moving after Kulkarni fell.

Pant’s late cameo changed the finish. He smashed 32 not out from 10 balls, with 4 fours and 2 sixes. His strike rate touched 320.

LSG ended on 209 for 3 in 19 overs. Rain had shortened the game, and that changed the chase. Under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method, RCB needed 213.

Simply put, DLS adjusts targets when weather cuts overs. It tries to account for lost time and remaining wickets. For chasing teams, it can feel like the mountain grows taller.

Shami and Prince strike early

RCB’s chase began badly. Mohammed Shami removed Jacob Bethell for 4 in the first over.

Then Prince Yadav landed the biggest early blow. He dismissed Virat Kohli for a duck in the second over.

Those 2 wickets did more than dent the scorecard. They forced RCB to rebuild while chasing above 11 runs an over.

That is the silent pressure in a DLS chase. You cannot just survive. Every quiet over makes the required rate climb.

Rajat Patidar and Devdutt Padikkal did the hard repair work. They added 95 runs from 53 balls for the third wicket.

Patidar looked sharp and busy. His 61 from 31 balls gave RCB real belief after the early mess.

Padikkal made 35 from 25 balls, useful but not match-breaking. Still, the partnership brought RCB back from a place where the game could have slipped away.

Prince returns at the right time

The 11th over changed the chase again. Prince Yadav came back and removed Padikkal.

In the same over, he also got Jitesh Sharma. That was the sort of double strike captains dream about.

Prince finished with 3 wickets, and each one carried match value. Kohli’s wicket set the tone. Padikkal and Jitesh broke the middle.

For a team fighting to stay alive, that matters. Star innings win headlines, but middle-over wickets win tight matches.

Shahbaz Ahmed then tilted the contest further. He dismissed Patidar after the RCB captain had crossed fifty.

That wicket was huge. Patidar had the tempo, the form, and the responsibility. Once he left, RCB needed fresh hitters to restart quickly.

Tim David still threatened with 40 from 17 balls. He gave RCB the sort of late power every franchise hunts at auctions.

But Shahbaz removed him too. In a chase this tight, getting the set power-hitter is almost like saving 20 runs.

Pant backs Rathi under pressure

Even after all that, RCB refused to disappear. Krunal Pandya and Romario Shepherd dragged them back into the contest.

Krunal made 28 from 16 balls. Shepherd added 23 from 15. Together, they made Lucknow sweat in the closing minutes.

RCB needed 20 from the final over. That is difficult, but not absurd in modern IPL cricket. One six and one boundary can turn panic into possibility.

Pant’s call was the brave bit. He trusted Rathi for the final over against Shepherd, a batter built for late damage.

Rathi did not chase glory. He kept the over tight enough and denied the full swing RCB needed.

Only 10 came from it. LSG closed the game by 9 runs, and Pant’s decision looked calm in hindsight.

Captains often get judged by results, not logic. Had Shepherd connected twice, the same call would have looked reckless. That is the knife-edge of T20 leadership.

RCB miss a top-spot chance

For RCB, this defeat hurts beyond the 2 points. As defending champions, they had a chance to move to No. 1.

Instead, they left Lucknow with a narrow loss and a few selection-room questions. The top order failed, and the chase depended too much on recovery work.

Josh Hazlewood, Krunal Pandya and Rasikh Salam took 1 wicket each. But RCB still conceded 209 in 19 overs.

That total explains the problem. Even with rain math involved, a chase of 213 leaves very little room for early wickets.

For LSG, the win keeps the playoff equation alive. The phrase “mathematical chance” can sound cold, but dressing rooms live on it.

Players know one win can change the mood of a campaign. A big hundred, a young bowler’s spell, and one brave final over can keep belief breathing.

For fans, that is the charm and cruelty of the IPL. A season can look finished one evening, then suddenly feel open again. Lucknow still need results to fall their way, but they have given themselves something priceless: one more reason to fight.