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‘I was talking to Virat bhaiya’ — Prince Yadav’s three-wicket haul and Mitchell Marsh’s 111 power LSG past RCB in last-over thriller | Cricket News

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Contents
Marsh’s masterclassPrince’s momentPatidar’s fightLast over drama

LSG beat RCB by nine runs (DLS) after Marsh’s 111 off 56 powered them to 209/3 in 19 overs. Then Prince Yadav’s 3/33 dismantled RCB’s top order in a revised chase.

Mitchell Marsh made 111. Prince Yadav took three wickets. Three rain interruptions forced a DLS revision that set RCB a target of 213 in 19 overs. They finished on 203 for 6. Tim David’s 40 off 17 and Krunal Pandya’s unbeaten 28 off 16 made it close — closer than it should have been — but Digvesh Rathi held his nerve in the final over to deny them.

Marsh’s masterclass

Marsh has never really done things by half. His sixes don’t lob over the rope, they clear them with distance to spare. And when he decided to take apart RCB’s bowling attack on Thursday at Ekana, he did it in the only way he knows — from the first ball, with the full face of the bat, straight down the ground. Two sixes off Josh Hazlewood in the first over set the tone — high elbow, straight bat, back over the bowler’s head; then fractionally fuller, identical result. By the time he’d reached his fifty off just 20 balls — his fastest in the IPL — he’d already hit five sixes, each one straight or over mid-wicket.

There are never any ramps or scoops with Marsh. A 97-metre pull off Rasikh Salam Dar over square leg. Krunal Pandya hoisted high over long-on, then driven over cover off the very next ball. When Rasikh attempted a slower ball, Marsh sliced it hard to long-off — Jamie Cox caught it on the boundary, realised his feet were on the rope, and lobbed it back. Six anyway. When Suyash Sharma dragged one short, Marsh swivelled and hammered him over mid-wicket. The method doesn’t change, only the bowler does. The hundred came up in the 14th over — a low full toss from Romario Shepherd, Marsh driving hard through point. Helmet off, bright smile, bat raised.

For a man who once said “most of Australia hate me” with a laugh that suggested he’d long made peace with divided opinion, Marsh has always been more comfortable letting the bat do the arguing. Thursday night had three rain interruptions, but none of them could stop him. What did, eventually, was Hazlewood — an attempted yorker that became a low full toss, Marsh scything it flat to deep point where Jacob Bethell took a reverse-cupped catch. Out for 111 off 56. Nine sixes, nine fours. The bat had made its case.

Prince’s moment

In 1995, Salil Ankola bowled Sachin Tendulkar a peach in the Challenger series — nipping back in off a length, going through the bat-pad gap and flattening two stumps. The umpire called a no-ball. Tendulkar pounced, hit him all around the park, and Ankola’s moment was gone before it arrived.

There was no such bitter twist for Prince Yadav. His delivery to Virat Kohli was cut from the same cloth — 140.4kph, seaming back in, Kohli drawn forward and the ball going through the gate to uproot the off-stump. Kohli looked back and walked. Prince punched the air, pressed his palms together and kissed it as he looked up to the skies. A two-ball duck, and RCB had lost both openers inside two overs.

Prince returned in the 10th over and picked up where he had left off. The first ball — a cutter — Devdutt Padikkal chipped straight back. Two balls later, Jitesh Sharma top-edged a short ball climbing onto his body, Pant running back for a simple catch. Two wickets in the over, three in the match.

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The Kohli wicket was the one that mattered. But the penultimate over showed his nerve — hit for a four and a six by Krunal and Shepherd, he held his shape and set the equation to 20 from the final over.

After the match, Prince revealed where the plan to dismiss Kohli came from. “I was talking to Virat bhaiya and he only told me — ‘as long as it’s moving around off a length, stick to that length.’” The batter he dismissed for a duck had given him the blueprint.

Patidar’s fight

Rajat Patidar and Padikkal put on 95 for the third wicket, giving RCB a foothold after the early setbacks. Padikkal fell for 34 off 25. Patidar fended off some nasty snorters from Mayank Yadav but repaid with interest when the ball failed to kick up. Two ferocious pulls into the crowd were the highlights. He made 61 off 31 with six sixes, before Shahbaz Ahmed had him caught by Aiden Markram in the 11th over; RCB in a soup at 112 for 5. Tim David’s 40 off 17 — four sixes — briefly revived hopes. Krunal and Shepherd kept swinging till the last ball. But Rathi held firm.

Last over drama

Rishabh Pant had a decision to make — Shahbaz or Singh Rathi — and after a word with Marsh, opted for the latter. Two singles, then Shepherd swung and missed. Eighteen needed off three. Rathi slipped in a wide. The fourth ball — slower, on the leg line — was swung for a four, and suddenly it was alive. Pant rushed across, put his arm around Rathi’s shoulder. A loopy delivery next, just two runs. Last ball, almost yorker length — Shepherd pushed it to long-off for a single. LSG won by nine runs.

Brief scores: LSG 209/3 in 19 overs (Mitchell Marsh 111, Nicholas Pooran 38; Krunal Pandya 1/31) beat RCB 203/6 in 19 overs (Rajat Patidar 61, Tim David 40; Prince Yadav 3/33, Shahbaz Ahmed 2/33) by 9 runs (DLS, revised target 213 in 19 overs).





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