LSG vs RR, IPL 2026: Rajasthan Royals defended the target of 160 runs, reached second place in the points table.

New Delhi. Rajasthan Royals reached second place in the IPL points table by defeating Lucknow Super Giants captained by Rishabh Pant. Rajasthan has 10 points in five matches, while this is LSG’s fifth defeat in seven matches and the team is at ninth position. Lucknow Super Giants team, which came to chase the target of 160 runs set by Rajasthan, collapsed for 119 runs in 18 overs.

The Indian bowling attack of Lucknow Super Giants led by Mohammed Shami and Mohsin Khan restricted the strong batting of Rajasthan Royals to 159 runs for 6 wickets. This is the third consecutive match when the top order of Rajasthan Royals has completely failed, due to which the team has failed to score a big score. Shami (30/2) once again stood out due to his skill, while the tall Mohsin (17/2) remained very disciplined. He troubled the batsmen with excellent swing and bouncy balls.

Both the bowlers together sent four leading batsmen of Rajasthan to the pavilion. Shami dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal (22) and Dhruv Jurel (0) on consecutive balls, while Mohsin dismissed Vaibhav Suryavanshi (8 runs off 11 balls) and Shimron Hetmyer (22 off 18 balls) in separate spells. The rapidly rising Prince Yadav (29/2) also strengthened the attack with his swing balls, while Mayank Yadav (56 runs without any wicket in four overs), who was returning after a long time, did not look in rhythm and proved to be the most expensive. Captain Riyan Parag once again failed to impress with the bat after the Royals top order collapsed. His poor performance has also increased concerns about his captaincy.

The Super Giants bowlers restricted the Royals to a low score by bowling a large number of dot balls. Shami (15 dot balls) and Mohit (11 dot balls) together bowled 26 dot balls, while Prince Yadav also made a brilliant contribution of 13 dot balls. Shami trapped Yashasvi Jaiswal on a fast bouncer. Jaiswal tried to play a hook shot on the suddenly bouncing ball and wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant took a brilliant catch with one hand. He walked Jurel on the next ball. This time the full length ball, after hitting the wicket, moved slightly outside and took the outer edge of Jurel’s bat and went into Pant’s gloves.

Mohsin trapped Suryavanshi in a brilliant manner. After bowling five consecutive dot balls, he bowled a fast cutter of 142 km/h on the last ball, on which the batsman played the shot with wrong timing and the ball waved in the air from the upper edge of the bat. Digvesh Rathi took a brilliant catch while running in the opposite direction. The Royals’ innings could never gain momentum after this. Riyan Parag once again tried to play the helicopter shot under pressure, but his failure continued to weigh heavily on the team. Ravindra Jadeja (43 not out in 29 balls) and young Shubham Dubey (19 not out in 11 balls) made an unbroken partnership of 49 runs in 26 balls, taking the team’s score to 159 runs. This pair scored 20 runs against Mayank in the last over.