Top News

New Delhi: A spirited Rajasthan Royals (RR) thrashed a hapless Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by 40 runs at the Ekana Stadium, Lucknow, to jump to the second spot in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 on Wednesday, April 22. RR rode on an impressive all-round show from Ravindra Jadeja and a three-wicket haul from pacer Jofra Archer to outclass LSG in their own backyard.

Jadeja top-scored with an unbeaten 49 to rescue the visitors after a top-order collapse and helped them post a respectable total of 159/6 on the board in 20 overs. He finished with figures of 1/29 with the ball, picking up the important wicket of Nicholas Pooran to play his part in helping RR successfully defend the moderate total.

Archer continued his impressive run with the ball and was arguably the pick of the bowlers for RR alongside his pace-bowling partner Nandre Burger. The duo got RR off to a dream start in the Powerplay, reducing LSG to 11/2 in no time in their 160-run chase. LSG lost opener Ayush Badoni on a duck in the very first over to an unfortunate run-out, before Archer and Burger struck in quick succession.

Burger dismissed LSG skipper Rishabh Pant on a duck while Archer got rid of the experienced Aiden Markam on a six-ball duck to pile misery on the hosts. Pant fell after a reckless shot, edging it to the keeper, while Markram was caught after failing to properly tackle a bouncer from Archer.

Mitchell Marsh top-scored with 55 off 41 and brought back LSG into the contest with a 43-run stand with Nicholas Pooran (22), however, LSG lost the plot after their partnership was broken. Jadeja dismissed Pooran in the 10th over to reduce LSG to 54/4, and there was no coming back for the hosts after that. They kept losing wickets at regular intervals to eventually get bowled out for 119 runs.