The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) pulled off a thrilling run chase against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow. With this victory, RCB moved up to second place on the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 points table and will now face Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Qualifier 1 at Mullanpur.
Talking Points
Marsh and Pant power LSG with stellar partnership
LSG started their innings with Matthew Breetzke and Mitchell Marsh opening the batting. Breetzke departed early for 14 runs, but Marsh found a reliable partner in skipper Rishabh Pant. They stitched together a spectacular 152-run partnership off just 78 balls. Marsh played a fluent knock while scoring 67 off 37 balls.
Pant’s all-round dominance delights Lucknow crowd
Rishabh Pant came into the match after several poor displays. The LSG captain delivered a memorable performance and thrilled the home crowd with a magnificent unbeaten century, finishing unbeaten on 118 off 61 balls. His innings included 11 boundaries and eight sixes which gave LSG a total of 22/37.
Kohli, Salt set the tone
In response, RCB began their chase with a fiery opening partnership between Virat Kohli and Phil Salt. The duo added 61 runs in just 34 balls. Salt made a quickfire 30 off 19 deliveries, while Kohli played a composed knock of 54 from 30 balls.
Jitesh, Mayank seal victory with match-winning stand
After the dismissal of Kohli, Mayank Agarwal and RCB skipper Jitesh Sharma took control of the chase. They put together a sensational unbeaten 107-run stand for the fifth wicket off just 45 balls. Mayank remained unbeaten on 41 off 23 balls, while Jitesh played a captain’s knock by hammering an unbeaten 85 off just 33 balls as RCB clinched a six-wicket win with eight balls to spare.
Who Said What?
Rishabh Pant, LSG (Losing Captain)
Eventually you’ve got to play 40 overs of good cricket. Twenty overs aren’t going to save you. I was feeling well with each and every match. But sometimes it just doesn’t come off. Whenever you get a start, try to make it as big as possible. I was trying to play the field – how they were going to bowl Just playing through the line. Just kept on playing with the same intensity throughout the innings. There will be lot of areas where we will be talking. But the season is just ending. Just want to switch off for a few days. The way our batting unit has come up, there have been some special bowling performances also. We’ve been getting chances, but we haven’t been able to maintain. That is costing us the match.
Jitesh Sharma, RCB (Winning Captain & Player of the Match)
I will not be able to express my thoughts! I can’t believe I played that knock. When Virat bhai was out, I was just thinking of taking it deep. As my mentor and guru Dinesh [Karthik] anna says, just take it deep. I was getting cramps because all the load was on me! I have Virat bhai, Krunal bhai and Bhuvi bhai with me. I feel excited that I’m playing with them. We want to enjoy the moment. But we’ll try to recover well. We’ll look to carry the momentum into the next match. Credit goes to Rajat. I had the responsibility of maintaining his record. Hazlewood will perhaps play in the knockout. We have a strong belief system. We have match winners. Look at our playing XI, and we have match winners.
