Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s scintillating 93 eclipsed Mitchell Marsh’s 96 as the Rajasthan Royals kept their knockouts hopes alive in IPL 2026 with a commanding seven-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday (May 19). The teenage sensation, who has shouldered the Royals’ batting for much of the season, was at his brutal best, smashing 10 towering sixes in a breathtaking 38-ball assault that powered RR’s chase of 221. With Sooryavanshi setting the tone in an emphatic fashion, Dhruv Jurel took over and smashed an unbeaten 53 off 38 as Royals romped home with five balls to spare, staying firmly in the playoffs race that has narrowed down to just one available spot.
Mitchell Marsh continues his historic form
Following up his 90 against CSK, Marsh delivered again, combining with Inglis to lay the perfect platform for a commanding total. Marsh got going with a drive over covers off Jofra Archer before hammering a six over mid-off. Inglis, who inflicted most of the early damage, then freed his arms against the left-arm pace of Sushant Mishra, launching a 99m maximum, before tearing into Sandeep Sharma with two sixes and three boundaries in the span of six balls across his two Powerplay overs.
Marsh, meanwhile, took the attack to Brijesh Sharma, plundering 14 runs from his opening over. Of Lucknow Super Giants’ 83 in the Powerplay, Inglis had smashed 49 off just 22 balls. He brought up a rapid half-century against Yash Raj Punja, but the bowler struck back in his next over to finally end the 109-run stand in the ninth over.
Marsh, who became the first LSG batter to aggregate 500-plus runs in successive IPL seasons, was stranded in the late 40s for a couple of overs before bringing up a second successive half-century off just 25 deliveries. Mishra leaked three boundaries to the Australian in the 12th over, but Punja struck back for the visitors by dismissing Nicholas Pooran, whose brisk 16-run cameo included a couple of maximums. Rishabh Pant too struggled to get going initially, failing to find the fence in his first 10 deliveries. He eventually broke the shackles by launching Brijesh straight down the ground for six in the 16th over, and at 182/2, LSG looked poised to breach the 250-run mark. However, disciplined death bowling ensured the visitors were restricted to 220.
Jofra Archer, who returned for two overs at the back end, conceded just one boundary each to the third-wicket pair before coming back in the 20th over to snuff out the momentum by removing both set batters. Marsh ultimately fell narrowly short of what would have been his second IPL century of the season as well, but the slowdown allowed RR a window to clawback and they never let go.
Vaibhav and Yashasvi start agressively to lock the match
Yashasvi Jaiswal was the aggressor in the 75-run opening stand with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, kickstarting the chase with a hat-trick of boundaries off Akash Singh in a costly 23-run over. Mohsin Khan and Mayank Yadav briefly applied the brakes with a tight over each, but Jaiswal soon counterattacked, tearing into Mohsin with a sequence of 6, 4, 4, 4 in his second over, which leaked 19 runs in total. Sooryavanshi only began to cut loose in the final over of the Powerplay, but it was Jaiswal who had already laid the perfect platform for the carnage that followed in the middle overs.
RR’s 15-year-old sensation took matters into his own hands in the sixth over against Prince Yadav, announcing himself with a stunning ramp over Rishabh Pant for six. Although he lost his opening partner to Akash Singh soon after the field restrictions were lifted, Sooryavanshi shifted gears. When Akash returned for the ninth over, the youngster unleashed complete mayhem: 6, 4, 0, 4, 6, wd, wd, 4 – a 26-run over that made his intentions clear. After racing to a 23-ball half-century, he dispatched a Digvesh Rathi googly deep into the long-off stands before taking apart Prince again, sending the final two balls of his over sailing over the ropes on either side of the wicket.
Alongside Dhruv Jurel, Sooryavanshi kept the assault relentless. Mayank’s third over disappeared for 29 runs, with the pair smashing two sixes each to decisively lock the momentum in their favour. Rathi, too, endured another bruising over before Mohsin finally deceived the teenager with a slower ball, denying him what would have been a match-defining century. Sooryavanshi departed at the end of the 14th over after a breathtaking 93, having done virtually all the heavy lifting and leaving RR and the well-set Jurel needing just 41 from the remaining 36 deliveries.
SCORECARD: Lucknow Super Giants 220/5 in 20 overs [Mitchell Marsh 96 off 57, Josh Inglis 60 off 29, Rishabh Pant 35 off 23; Yash Raj Punjab 2-35] lost to Rajasthan Royals 225/3 in 19.1 overs [Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 93 off 38, Dhruv Jurel 53* off 38, Yashasvi Jaiswal 43 off 23; Mohsin Khan 1-31] by 7 wickets.