Former India cricketer-turned-commentator Mohammad Kaif has praised LSG’s ₹3.40 crore batter Mitchell Marsh for his stunning century in their IPL 2026 clash against RCB on Thursday, May 7, at the Ekana Cricket Stadium. Sent into bat, LSG posted 209/3 in 19 overs in a rain-affected match, with Marsh scoring his second IPL hundred, 111 off 56 balls, including nine fours and as many sixes. Chasing a revised target of 213 under the DLS method, RCB fell short by nine runs, finishing at 203/6 as well.
Speaking on Star Sports after the match, Kaif said, “When you play on black-soil pitches with low bounce, you usually target straight areas. If you look at this match, most of his shots were played with a high elbow and straight down the ground. And with the angle at which the ball was pitching, especially on that wide line outside off stump, he kept driving over extra cover. None of the shots looked premeditated. He simply played according to where the ball was pitched and targeted straight areas. Whenever the short ball came, he pulled it and hit a couple there as well. But for most of the match, he played down the ground and struck beautiful shots through the covers.”
READ HERE: Shubman Gill Breaks Silence On ODI Futures Of Rohit Sharma And Virat Kohli
“It was a knock of 111 runs off 56 balls from his bat at a time when, of course, Lucknow were in serious trouble. The team had come into the match after losing six consecutive games, and they had also been losing matches at home in Lucknow. On the other side was a very strong bowling attack. He was up against bowlers like Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood. Scoring a century against them is a big achievement,” he added.
Meanwhile, India pacer Umesh Yadav applauded the way LSG used spinner Shahbaz Ahmed, who returned with the figures of 2/33 in three overs, dismissing Rajat Patidar and Tim David. He also added that they bowled with a clear plan, as captain Rishabh Pant instructed him from the outset to keep bowling outside the off stump, which worked well.
“They used him when needed because there were other options available too. Arshin was also there, and he can bowl medium pace as well. But the situation became such that they needed an experienced bowler. The main thing was that the bowling was done with a proper plan. From the very first ball itself, Rishabh Pant told him to bowl outside the off stump, far away from the batter, on a wide line. That plan worked, and because of it, they got those two wickets. The batters simply didn’t have enough time or room to hit over the top,” he concluded.
