Heavy air at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium hinted at drama, though the match slipped into imbalance early. Lucknow Super Giants showed up searching for rhythm; instead, they drowned beneath the champions’ sharp execution. That surface was bouncy in spots, sluggish elsewhere, enough to strangle LSG’s batting before it caught breath. So their bowlers stood there, handed a total too small to matter against Royal Challengers Bangalore’s charging batters.
A run-chase that seemed decided from the start saw Virat Kohli step in, not at the beginning but later, tearing through LSG’s bowlers before they settled into rhythm. Even though Super Giants struck some runs toward the end, shrinking the difference slightly, RCB reached the target smoothly, winning by five wickets with nearly five overs left, a clear sign of how far apart these teams were in performance.
Here are six key reasons why LSG fell short against RCB:
1. Stifled powerplay and early strict bowling:
At Chinnaswamy, where big swings are expected, LSG's top two batters looked tied down. Not by luck, but by Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar both holding lines so tight, edges slipped through gaps never opened. After six overs, only 35 on the board, one wicket down, LSG’s weakest start in these Powerplays all year. Because they waited too long to strike, what followed was heightened tension right away; the next batters stepped in while runs blinked slowly.
2. The mid-innings injury to Rishabh Pant
Luck wasn’t on Lucknow Super Giants’ side that evening. A fast ball from Josh Hazlewood hit Rishabh Pant right on the elbow, a pain shot through his arm, so he stepped away from play soon after. Though their leader stayed calm, discomfort pulled him off the field before he could respond.
Midway through the innings, without him around, decisions faltered between the batters. Even when Pant fought back to rejoin, moments earlier had already shifted momentum - his brief time in doing little to steady what was slipping fast.
Also Read: Rishabh Pant retires hurt after nasty elbow hit in RCB vs LSG clash
3. Failure to tackle Rasikh Dar’s variations
Fresh off the back of seasoned players setting the stage, it was teenager Rasikh Salam Dar who tipped the scales. A personal best 4/24 emerged from smart changes in pace, dead-eye yorkers paired with sneaky slow deliveries that left Lucknow Super Giants’ mid-to-lower lineup guessing. What looked like control turned into confusion under his spell.
Just when a stand began to take shape, especially the one between Ayush Badoni and Mukel Choudhary, Rasikh broke through, timing his intervention perfectly. That stoppage kept LSG well short of 175, a total substitute captain Nicholas Pooran would soon call challenging.
4. Krunal Pandya’s middle-order mastery
Krunal Pandya, facing the team he once played for, sharp and unrelenting. Not merely holding things together, he tore through their lineup instead. Just when Mitchell Marsh started finding rhythm at 40, a dismissal followed, then another, and Abdul Samad caught clean. The middle order crumbled fast after that. His two wickets for 38 runs marked a quiet milestone: the hundredth in IPL history from his hand. That spell held tight between early control and later chaos, dragging Lucknow’s run flow below eight per over by the finish.
5. Virat Kohli’s impact surge:
A target of 147 looked reachable, yet Lucknow's hope faded fast when Virat Kohli stepped in. Not long after entering as the Impact Substitute, he swung hard from the first chance. By the time the Powerplay ended, his 40 runs had shifted everything. The match slipped beyond reach before it truly began.
Just as he reached a smooth 49 from 34 balls, the target began feeling like an afterthought. With every aggressive move, he unsettled LSG’s bowlers, pushing them toward spots they did not want to hit, spots that suited him perfectly.
6. Lack of clinical execution on the field:
Chasing 146, LSG’s bowlers fell short when every run mattered. Not quite flawless, their effort stumbled through uneven spells. Prince Yadav struck twice at the start, once again near the finish, finishing with 3/32, but support faded fast. Midway through, Digvesh Rathi let loose a costly over, hammered by Jitesh Sharma for 23 in one go, sealing momentum firmly for RCB. Gone was any hint of sharp control, unlike RCB’s earlier calm dominance. Just past halfway into the fifteenth over, it ended, slipping beyond reach.
