Lucknow Super Giants 209 for 3 (Marsh 111, Pooran 38, Pant 32*) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru 203 for 6 (Patidar 61, David 40, Prince 3-33, Shahbaz 2-33) by nine runs
Lucknow Super Giants' (LSG) much-vaunted pace attack applied the skids on Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in a banana-peel clash at the Ekana Stadium. They successfully defended 219 in a rain-truncated 19-overs-a-side contest three nights after 228 didn't seem anywhere enough against Mumbai Indians.
The orchestrator-in-chief was Mitchell Marsh, who converted his second fifty-plus score of the season into a peerless 56-ball 111, setting up the defence on a surface that offered pace, bounce and carry.
Then, Prince Yadav used these elements as his ally to bowl a ball to Virat Kohli that will perhaps make the top-five deliveries of the season. When RCB's chase truly kicked into gear courtesy of Rajat Patidar, Prince returned to dismiss Devdutt Padikkal and Jitesh Sharma within five deliveries to turn the game around.
Patidar's dismissal three balls later, to end a six-fest, all but sealed LSG's third win in ten matches that keeps them alive mathematically. RCB remained third on 12 points, only a superior net run rate separating them from Rajasthan Royals and Gujarat Titans.
King b Prince 0
He manifests playing a World Cup with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. On Thursday night, he bowled a ball that would make the tournament reel and get the selectors interested, if they weren't already.
A nip-backer at high pace whooshed past Kohli's inside edge to splay his stumps. It was Kohli's first IPL duck since 2023. This left RCB 9 for 2 after they had lost Jacob Bethell cheaply for a fourth game on the trot.
"He seems to be an all-format bowler," Ambati Rayudu says
Prince's return
Between finishing his second over and returning for his third, the 11th of RCB's chase, Prince may have felt a sense of deja vu. Three weeks ago, he finished with 2 for 25 off his full quota in an innings where LSG conceded 254 against Punjab Kings. Here, Patidar threatened an incredible jailbreak as he tore into Mayank Yadav and Digvesh Rathi to pummel a 26-ball half-century.
Patidar was particularly ferocious against Rathi, hitting him for 23 off six deliveries. After some early trouble against Mayank's high-pace, he returned the favour by nonchalantly whipping and pulling him for sixes. From 60 for 2 in seven overs, RCB ransacked 44 off the next three when Rishabh Pant summoned Prince for a third.
He began by dismissing Padikkal caught and bowled, having deceived him with a slower ball that stuck into the surface. Three balls later, he sent a ripper of a bouncer that had the woefully out-of-form Jitesh top-edge a pull to Pant. Prince now had figures of 3 for 21.
Shahbaz makes an impression
In only his second game of the season, Shahbaz Ahmed made a compelling case to start in the line-up for the rest of LSG's campaign. He had Patidar in his first over, followed by David for a 17-ball 40 in his third, just when RCB looked like they were looking to pull off a heist. The equation came down to 33 off 12 when Krunal Pandya, promoted ahead of Romario Shepherd, hit Mohammed Shami for back-to-back sixes. With 20 needed off 6, Rathi held his nerve and conceded just one boundary as LSG won by nine runs to arrest a six-match losing streak.
Katey Martin and Ambati Rayudu on the LSG opener's century against RCB
Marsh comes good, finally
Injuries forced a series of changes for LSG. Amidst a revolving door of openers - this was their fifth new pairing - Marsh has been a constant through the ten games. Thursday's was only his second fifty-plus score of the season. He made a half-century off 20 balls, and a century off 49 balls - the fastest yet for LSG since their inception - to set the game up.
Where Marsh flew, his new opening partner Arshin Kulkarni struggled. LSG were 95 for 0 in nine overs when rain briefly stopped play. Marsh's onslaught against his Australia mate Josh Hazlewood - lofted through the line for two sixes in his very first over - was particularly intriguing during that passage. Kulkarni went into the break amid chatter of being retired out, but he returned and fell second ball after the resumption when he hit Krunal straight to cover for 17 off 23.
Marsh's battle against Hazlewood may have been box office, but his attack against the others wasn't any less thrilling. He pounced on anything short from the spinners - Suyash Sharma and Krunal. Ninety of his 111 came off boundaries, and he galloped to the landmark when he hit Shepherd for three fours in his only over.
Pant then ensured the perfect finish with a cameo 32 off 10, with the last three balls of the innings, from Rasikh Dar, getting taken apart for 4, 4, 6. LSG hit 64 off their last five, which eventually made a massive difference to the end result.
