Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) registered an emphatic five-wicket victory over Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in their IPL 2026 match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday (April 15).
Opting to bowl first, RCB restricted LSG to a below-par 146/10 in 20 overs. Rasikh Salam Dar produced his career-best IPL spell (4-24 in four overs) for the home side, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3-27 in four overs) and Josh Hazlewood (1-20 in four overs) also returned with impressive figures.
The Super Giants never managed to find momentum, with Mitchell Marsh (40), Mukul Choudhary (39) Ayush Badoni (38) emerging as the notable contributors.
In reply, the defending champions overhauled the target with 29 deliveries to spare. Virat Kohli broke the chase with a fine knock of 34-ball 49, while Rajat Patidar (27 off 13) and Jitesh Sharma (23 off 9), Tim David (14* off 8) and Romario Shepherd (14* off 8) produced brilliant cameos to boost RCB’s Net Run Rate.
After the win, Kohli offered an update on his health after struggling to get going in the last game against Mumbai Indians.
“Much better than the last game. I'm still not 100%. My knee was a bit sore last game. Even health-wise, I've been under the weather for four or five days now. So, just getting back up to my best,” Kohli said in the post-match interview.
“I started off well today, so I was happy with my intensity. Again, would have liked to carry on and finish the game off. Sometimes you have to take the conditions into account as well. The pitch slowed down considerably and I just wanted to probably keep going in the same manner. But yeah, in the end, should have probably finished that one off as well,” he added.
Kohli noted that this particular Chinnaswamy track was “slower than normal”, hence, he was happy to put the team in the driver’s seat with attacking batting in the powerplay.
“It was slower than normal. If you saw, there was not enough grass on it. The last 3-4 days have been very, very hot. It's been very dry as well. So, we thought it's going to be a dry, slow wicket rather than one of those bare ones that are tacky when we play in Chinnaswamy. So, it was different and hence the idea was to push the game away from the opposition and take the game away from them in the first five-six overs. And for those reasons, the powerplay batting was important and hence I say that I was happy with my approach today. I was able to put the team in front early on,” he remarked.
The RCB stalwart was effusive in praise of captain Patidar’s explosive batting prowess this season.
“We have our KPIs as a batting unit and it says Rajat to go in and assess the situation. I always tell him, you're probably looking to assess the bowler's heart rate rather than the situation, like where do these guys stand. I mean, incredible. It's clarity. Also, the way our management has stacked up our team. It allows us to play in a certain way. I have to adapt my roles accordingly. It allows me to play a certain way up front with Salty. So we pass on the baton pretty nicely in this team. And yeah, just the freedom of having Romario and Tim and .. KP (Krunal Pandya) hasn't even batted in any games yet. So, we're sitting on a batting unit that's explosive, that's getting the job done. And yeah, it looks pretty intimidating if I was in the opposition as well if you have like Romario and Tim to walk in even after you're five down. These guys can get you 50 runs in four overs. So, that's pretty handy to have and that's giving all of us a lot of freedom.”
While Kohli acknowledged the shift in modern cricket, where massive scores like 230 or 240 have become more common, yet he emphasized the importance of adaptability and playing smart cricket in pressure situations.
“Well, it depends on the situation and the condition as well for me. Not all games are going to be 230, 240. We understand the game's moving forward pretty nicely, that the demands of the modern game are pretty different, but you always have to keep an eye out on the situation and when people play under pressure. We're still in the first half of the tournament. Second half onwards, the games are going to get tighter and people are going to be under pressure a lot more than now. So when the freedom goes away, the pressure kicks in, that's when the smarts of the game have to be applied as well, which I think will put teams in good stead, whoever can apply and adapt and play according to the conditions and the situation will be the teams that will go a long way. But yeah, the game has certainly changed. As I said, I'm trying my best. I think I've done okay so far in adapting. Early on, last two games, as I said, I haven't been at my best, but yeah, I'm always looking to push the bar," he concluded.
