Marsh's 49-ball century ends LSG's losing streak as Rathi defends 20 against RCB
Mitchell Marsh hammered a 49-ball century and Rishabh Pant added a 10-ball cameo as Lucknow Super Giants beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 9 runs (DLS) at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium on Thursday, ending a six-match losing streak in Match 50 of IPL 2026.
Rajat Patidar won the toss and chose to bowl, and the rain that hovered over Lucknow most of the evening eventually pulled the contest down to 19 overs a side. By the time the third interruption cleared, RCB were chasing a DLS-revised target of 213, and the equation never quite eased the way it needed to.
Marsh sets the tone with the fastest LSG hundred in IPL history
Marsh batted as if the rain was on a clock he had already read. He carved Romario Shepherd through point in the 14th over to bring up his hundred off 49 balls, the fastest century by an LSG batter in the league's history, and finished on 111 off 56 with nine fours and nine sixes. Nicholas Pooran shifted the gear midway through with 38 off 23, and the partnership that mattered most was the 70-run stand the two of them put together once Marsh felt set.
Pant came in late and treated the back end like a net session: 32 not out off 10, four fours and a couple of sixes, and a finish that stretched the total to 209/3. With three rain stoppages already factored into the par calculation, the DLS adjustment lifted the chase target to 213. Anything north of 200 in 19 overs at Ekana, with a wet outfield and a slowing surface, was always going to ask hard questions of RCB's middle order.
Kohli's first IPL duck since 2023 sets the tone for a stop-start chase
Prince Yadav opened the bowling and produced a hard length ball that nipped back in. Virat Kohli pushed forward tentatively, and the ball clipped middle and off. It was his first IPL duck since 2023, and the kind of dismissal that gets framed and replayed because of how rarely he is undone by a delivery doing one thing.
Patidar, batting as if the captaincy and the chase were both his to drag through, hit 61 off 31 with three fours and six sixes. Devdutt Padikkal stayed with him for a 95-run stand, ending on 34 himself, and Tim David later cleared the rope often enough for 40 off 17 to put RCB back inside touching distance. None of it quite stuck. Wickets fell in clusters, and the asking rate kept climbing every time a partnership looked like it might do real damage.
Digvesh Singh Rathi defends 20 in the final over
Twenty needed off the last over, with a set batter at the crease and a bowler who has had more comfortable evenings. Digvesh Singh Rathi, the LSG leg-spinner who has spent the season learning the death-overs trade in real time, took the ball and kept his lengths short of obvious hitting zones. RCB managed 10. The chase ended at 203/6, and a six-match losing run that had been pushing LSG out of the playoff conversation was finally broken.
It does not save the season on its own. LSG remain at the bottom end of the table and need a clean run from here to make any real impression on the playoff race. But a 9-run win over a side that came to Ekana looking to top the table is the kind of result that resets a dressing room. For a Lucknow side that has spent most of April watching the table move away from them, Marsh's hundred and Rathi's last over feel like the night the streak finally cracked.
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