Virat Kohli led the Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a resounding five-wicket victory against the Lucknow Super Giants in their Tata IPL match in a low-scoring game at the traditionally high scoring M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
LSG struggled on an unusually slow pitch to post a total of 146 all out with Australian T20 skipper Mitchell Marsh top-scoring on 40 from 32 balls but it was no match for defendeing champions RCB who romped to victory on the back of Kohli’s 49 from 34 balls with a whopping 29 balls to spare.
Virat in a chase. Period. 🙇♂️ pic.twitter.com/1uSeL3PaF8
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) April 15, 2026
Captain Rajat Patidar smashed three sixes and a four in his 27 from 13 balls to remove any threat of run-rate pressure during the chase allowing Jitesh Sharma to score even more freely with a pair of fours and sixes in his 23 from just nine deliveries.
Aussie Tim David and West Indian Romario Shepherd finished the match with identical innings of 14* from eight balls apiece with a four and a six each.
🦏 Rhino 14(8) 🤝 Lion 14(8) 🦁
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) April 15, 2026
Our finishers, our blessing, our flex, and all ours. 🥹🥹🥹#PlayBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB #IPL2026 #RCBvLSG pic.twitter.com/3bMyGIgtTZ
The victory, however, was set up by RCB’s top three bowlers who shared eight wickets between them at a cost of just 71 runs.
Veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar claimed 3-27 in his four overs and fellow veteran, Australian Josh Hazlewood, conceded just 20 runs in his four overs which contained a remarkable 13 dot-balls.
Control so cold, it hurts. 🥶🔥
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) April 15, 2026
Hazlewood running the game his way! 🫡 pic.twitter.com/2t5MB7DpV2
But 26-year-old seamer Rasikh Salam was the pick of the attack with 4-24 earned with a variety of slower balls ideally suited to the surface.
IPL, welcome to Rasikh Dar! 😤 pic.twitter.com/9AH9xD5WL6
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) April 15, 2026
Earlier Ayush Badoni (38 from 24 balls) and Mukul Choudhary (39 from 28) never established the platform to accelerate with wickets falling regularly and LSG were at least 30 runs of a competitive total, if not more.
Captain Rishabh Pant was forced to retire hurt when a Hazlewood bouncer struck him on the elbow attempting a pull shot and returned at the fall of the seventh wicket only to be caught at deep midwicket for a single off six balls but far more concerning for LSG is the form of Trinidadian Nicholas Pooran whose form has fallen off a cliff.
His single run off seven balls was painful to watch before Hazlewood ended it via an edge onto his stumps.
The result took RCB to the top of the log on net run-rate with eight points from five matches – just ahead of Rajasthan Royals – while LSG remain languishing in seventh place with two wins and four points from five matches.
ROYAL CHALLENGERS BENGALURU: Philip Salt, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (captain), Jitesh Sharma (wkt), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Salam Dar
LUCKNOW SUPER GIANTS: Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Rishabh Pant (captain/wkt), Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Abdul Samad, Mukul Choudhary, Mohammad Shami, Avesh Khan, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Prince Yadav