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In the 64th match of IPL 2026, LSG ended up taking a defeat from RR at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. Even after that loss, Lucknow skipper Rishabh Pant tried to raise the team’s morale with this emotional dressing-room style remark, and yes it had a curse word somewhere in it, kinda like that.

The whole game turned out to be a proper entertainer for the fans. Batting first, LSG posted 220 runs, a score that felt fairly competitive on that Jaipur surface, nonetheless. But then RR’s young gun Vaibhav Sooryavanshi completely altered the tone during the chase.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi smashed 93 off just 38 balls and basically carried RR to a calm, seven-wicket win. In the end it was LSG’s ninth defeat of the season, leaving them stuck right at the bottom spot on the IPL 2026 points table.

Even with the heavy loss, captain Rishabh Pant stayed positive after the match, sort of anyway. In the post-match interview he said he was proud of the team’s effort and that he still felt the squad had enough quality in them.

Normally, statements like these get a lot of love, especially when a team performs well, loses by a small margin, or keeps showing grit all through the tournament.

But still, LSG have been looking below par for most of IPL 2026. Pant also has been receiving criticism about his form and captaincy, and the side has often stumbled when things got tense, time after time.

Because of that, his comments at this point of the season especially after the playoff elimination, felt a bit off, unrealistic and detached to quite a few fans, with some even reading it as a way to sidestep responsibility.

Pant also, in that same interview, admitted that LSG didn’t quite maximise their batting push even after putting up 220. He said he appreciated Jofra Archer for steering the death overs, and for keeping LSG from going all the way to a larger score around 230 or 235.

The LSG captain went on to add that maybe the team went in a direction where the bowling plans got unnecessarily complicated. As per Pant, there were too many opinions flying around, when really the bowlers just needed one clear, simple framework.

Interestingly, Pant had made a similar comment earlier too, kind of hinting at possible tactical disagreements with the LSG management . It also seemed, like he could be annoyed with the excessive involvement from the coaching staff or something like that.

Meanwhile, the defeat didn’t really change much for LSG, because they were already out of playoff contention . Lucknow keep on remaining at the bottom of the IPL 2026 standings.

LSG captain Rishabh Pant commented: "We are proud of the team, regardless of how the situation is. Regardless of the table, we are confident in the team. That doesn't take away the fact that we are fu**ing good team."

For RR, however, the win mattered a lot. After successfully chasing 221 in Jaipur, Rajasthan moved to 14 points from 13 matches and, they got back into the top four conversation for sure.

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The qualification scenario is now pretty straightforward for RR. If they end up beating Mumbai Indians in their last league match , Rajasthan Royals are likely to qualify for the playoffs with 16 points, no matter what happens in the other games.

This kind of outcome would also ease the pressure on sides like Chennai Super Kings , Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings, because none of them are really in a position to sail past RR comfortably, if Rajasthan win again.

But if RR stumble and lose their final game vs MI, then the whole playoff tussle could get messy , with net run rate and other match outcomes doing the deciding for who makes it through.