It wasn’t the high-scoring spectacle that people might have expected, especially with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in the house, but that didn’t make the contest any less compelling. Rajasthan Royals defended 159 to consign Lucknow Super Giants to their fourth straight loss of IPL 2026,  and their third in a row at home.

RR owed their batting lift to Ravindra Jadeja, who top scored with 43 not out off 29. His unbeaten 49-run stand with Impact Player Shubham Dubey, whose entry in the 16th over left RR without an extra bowler, pushed their total up to 159 – 40 too many for LSG.

The win meant RR snapped their two-match losing streak to jump to No. 2 on the points table. LSG, meanwhile, were ninth, having the same number of points as Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, both whom have a game in hand.

For the first time in his young IPL career, Sooryavanshi was searching for answers. He began with two fours off his first two deliveries, but didn’t score another run in his next eight. This included a sequence of five dots from left-arm seamer Mohsin Khan.

Hard lengths pinned Sooryavanshi back. Then Mohsin bowled deliveries that kissed the surface and darted away late, with some lift. Off the sixth ball, the pressure got to Sooryavanshi and a hoick across the line ended with Digvesh Rathi running back from extra cover to take a well-judged catch. RR had gone from 32 for 0 to 32 for 3 after four overs.

The first two blows were struck by Mohammed Shami, who overturned a sequence of three consecutive boundaries from Yashasvi Jaiswal by having him glove a sharp bumper to a leaping Rishabh Pant. Then he had Dhruv Jurel nicking a perfect outswinger for a golden duck.

Brought on in the seventh over for his first game after nearly a year on the sidelines due to a stress fracture, Mayank Yadav bowled at speeds in excess of 140kph four times in his opening over. His speeds didn’t translate into effectiveness though, with Shimron Hetmyer flicking a 150kph delivery in his second over for six over deep square. Both Hetmyer and Riyan Parag looked in decent nick until they fell in quick succession, leaving RR 77 for 5 in the 11th.

Parag picked out the long pocket as an attempt to play the helicopter landed in long-on’s hands, while Hetmyer was dismissed by the canny Prince Yadav, whose slower ball had him mis-time one to mid-off.

It wasn’t the most fluent innings. Nor was it a huge struggle. This was Jadeja batting with a revised total in mind and he didn’t take a risk until the last two overs. Between overs 12 and 18, RR hit just three boundaries, but Jadeja found his range at the end, ransacking 20 off Mayank’s final over to take the score to 159. He was helped by a cameo from Dubey, who was brought in for his first game this season. The last two overs produced 32.

Jofra Archer didn’t take a first-ball wicket for a fourth consecutive game but he didn’t have to wait too long. In his second over, he delivered a vicious bumper that hurried Aiden Markram into a mistimed pull and a top edge to the wicketkeeper Jurel.

Between Archer’s first two overs, Nandre Burger also had Rishabh Pant caught behind off a bottom edge. LSG were sinking at 11 for 3, with Ayush Badoni the first wicket via a run out. Pooran survived a probing short-ball examination from Archer and showed signs of kicking-on after enduring a horror start to the season. There was a sumptuous flick, two back-to-back fours off Brijesh Sharma, but Jadeja defied the match-up odds and had him caught at long-on for a 25-ball 22.

Amid the chaos, Mitchell Marsh played himself in. Every time he looked to accelerate, wickets kept falling. Yet, he was quick to pounce on anything short from Ravi Bishnoi and Jadeja, bringing up a measured half-century even as the asking rate rose past 10. His dismissal to Burger in the 16th over with LSG needing 55 off 27 was the end of the contest, with Brijesh and Archer sealing victory in 18 overs. Brijesh finished with 2 for 18, while Archer took 3 for 20.

Brief scores:
Rajasthan Royals 159 for 6 in 20 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 22, Riyan Parag 20, Shimron Hetmyer 22, Ravindra Jadeja 43*, Donovan Fereirra 20, Shubham Dubey 19*; Mohammed Shami 2-30, Prince  Yadav 2-29,  Mohsin Khan 2-17) beat Lucknow Super Giants 119 in 18 overs (Mitchell Marsh 55, Nicholas Pooran 22,  Himmat Singh 15; Jofra  Archer 3-20, Nandre Burger 2-27, Brijesh Sharma  2-18, Ravindra Jadeja 1-29, Ravi Bishnoi 1-23)  by 40 runs

[Cricinfo]

Chamari Athapaththu’s all-round show helped Sri Lanka level the ODI series against Bangladesh in Rajshahi. The visitors won by four wickets after chasing down the home side’s sub-par 165 all out in 45.5 overs.

Athapaththu, who had missed the first match due to a finger injury, roared back into action with three wickets. She started off with Sarmin Sultana’s wicket in the 16th over, although the batter expressed her disbelief at the umpire’s lbw decision against her. Athapaththu then removed Sobhana Mostary in her next over by having her caught at square leg.

Nilakshika Silva then took a brilliant catch at mid-off to help Athapaththu take her third wicket when Ritu Moni had mistimed a cover drive in the 31st over. Sharmin Akhter, Bangladesh’s top-scorer from the first ODI, fell for a duck to Malki Madara in the fifth over.

Captain Nigar Sultana top-scored on Wednesday with 58 off 101 balls with four boundaries. She had little support at the other end, before Nimesha Meepage had her caught behind in the 41st over.

Madara, Meepage and Inoka Ranaweera took two wickets each while Kavisha Dilhari picked up one.

During the chase, Athapaththu dominated the Bangladesh attack despite little support from her top order. She made 40 off 39 balls with eight fours, before falling to left-arm spinner Nahida Akhter in the 17th over. Nahida gave her a send-off, with Athapaththu staring back at her for several seconds before walking off.

Harshitha Samarawickrema and Hansima Karunaratne then added 79 runs for the fourth wicket to get Sri Lanka close to the 166-run target. Samarawickrama made 50 off 76 balls with seven fours, while Karunaratne struck six fours in her 40 off 64 balls.

Nahida removed both batters, before getting Kaushini Nuthyangana to complete her four-wicket haul. Sultana Khatun and Moni, meanwhile, took one wicket each.

The third and final ODI of the three-match series will also be held in Rajshahi, on April 25.

Brief scores:
Sri Lanka Women  166 for 6 in 38.2 overs (Chamari Athapaththu 40, Harshitha Samarawickrama 50, Hansima Karunaratne 40; Sultana Khatun 1-36, Ritu Moni 1-27,  Nahida Akter 4-21) beat Bangladesh Women 165 in 45.5 overs (Sarmin Sultana 25, Nigar Sultana 58, Nahider Akter 20; Malki Madara 2-30, Nimesha Meepage 2-29, Inoka Ranaweera 2-28, Chamari Athapaththu 3-36,  )  by four wickets

[Cricinfo]

The Lanka Premier League (LPL) 2026 will be held from 10^th July to 5 August 2026.

The sixth edition of the much-anticipated T20 league will be played across four venues: SSC, Colombo; RPICS, Colombo; PICS, Pallekele; and RDICS, Dambulla.

The online portal for foreign player registration will open on 4^th May 2026.

The tournament will be conducted by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), the owner of the LPL, in partnership with The IPG Group, the event rights holder of the tournament.

The Lanka Premier League, Sri Lanka’s premier domestic T20 tournament with an international flavor, was launched in 2020.

Samantha Dodanwela, who is an Executive Committee Member of the SLC, will continue to function as the Tournament Director.