Sooryavanshi's 93 off 38 lifts RR past LSG's 220 to seal fourth in IPL 2026
Rajasthan Royals chased down 221 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium with seven wickets and five balls to spare, ended a three-match losing streak, and pushed past Punjab Kings into fourth. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi did the heavy lifting with 93 off 38, and even Mitchell Marsh's 96 off 57 for the visitors went home unrewarded on a flat Jaipur night.
LSG had set the scoreboard a serious task. Marsh anchored the innings from the top of the order, and Josh Inglis took 60 off 29 at the other end to give Lucknow a powerplay launchpad. By the time Rishabh Pant chipped in with 35 off 23 in a 64-run partnership with Marsh, LSG had a total worth defending. Marsh never made it to a century. He pushed for a second on the penultimate ball and was run out by a direct hit, and Jofra Archer bowled Ayush Badoni first ball to leave LSG on 220 for 5 in 20 overs.
Sooryavanshi turns the chase inside out
Whatever pressure 221 was meant to carry on a flat Jaipur pitch evaporated inside six overs. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sooryavanshi added 71 without loss in the powerplay, and by the time Akash Singh dismissed Jaiswal for 43 off 23 just after the field opened up, the equation had already softened. The 15-year-old kept punching through square, taking the spinners on with the wind and going over the top against the seamers when the angle suited him. He fell for 93 off 38 to Mohsin Khan with the chase still alive but never seriously in question.
Dhruv Jurel did the closing work the openers had set up, finishing on 53 not out off 38. Donovan Ferreira took strike at the death and clubbed Shahbaz Ahmed over wide long-off to take Rajasthan past the target in 19.1 overs.
What this does to the table
The bigger story is the position. RR move to 14 points from 13 matches and slip into fourth, leapfrogging Punjab Kings who stay on 13 from 13. They sit behind RCB, Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the top three, with the fourth and final playoff seat now within reach for any of half a dozen sides.
For LSG the maths is done. The defeat drops them to 8 points from 13, bottom of the standings with one match left to play. A side that arrived in May with a top-four pulse leaves with an exit and a couple of decisions about which Marsh and Pant performances actually count as building blocks for next year.
Rajasthan still need help to seal the playoff seat outright. KKR, MI and Chennai's leftover fixtures will write the order. A first home win of the season was the kind of evening Jaipur had been waiting for.
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