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Four years. Eight matches. And somehow it already feels like a rivalry that’s been running for a decade.
Most IPL head-to-heads take time to build heat. Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Lucknow Super Giants Timeline skipped that part. From the very first Eliminator in 2022 to the tunnel confrontation in Lucknow to a 230 chase that sent RCB to their first ever IPL title, this fixture has packed more into 8 games than most rivalries manage in 20.
This is the full story. Every match, every turning point, every record.
How the rivalry began (2022)
LSG walked into the IPL in 2022 with zero baggage. No heartbreaks. No 18-year title drought. No pressure from a fanbase that had convinced itself “this is finally the year” for the better part of two decades.
RCB had all of that.
Their first meeting happened to be an Eliminator at Eden Gardens, May 25, 2022. High stakes. Neutral venue. And a player most people had barely heard of about to announce himself on the biggest stage of his career.
Rajat Patidar had gone unsold at the auction that season and joined RCB as mid-season cover for an injury to Luvnith Sisodia. So the man who would define this fixture’s origin story nearly wasn’t even in the squad.
Patidar scored an unbeaten 112 off 54 balls, his innings including 12 fours and 7 sixes, powering RCB to 207/4. He dropped twice during the innings, once each on 59, 72, and 93, and still ended up being unmissable.
LSG needed 208. KL Rahul scored 79 and Deepak Hooda added 45, but Josh Hazlewood took 3/43 and Harshal Patel defended 24 off the final over to seal a 14-run win for RCB.
The tone was set. Patidar would go on to captain RCB in 2025 and 2026. And Hazlewood would become the most prolific wicket-taker in the history of this fixture.
IPL 2023: the year it got personal
No rivalry earns its reputation without at least one match you can’t stop thinking about. In 2023, RCB vs LSG gave fans two of them.
Match 1: Bengaluru, April 2023
RCB posted 212. Strong total. Home ground. Decent bowling lineup. LSG were 37/3 at the end of the powerplay and looked out of it.
Then Marcus Stoinis hit 65 off 30 balls to drag them back in. Then he got out. Then KL Rahul got out.
Nicholas Pooran hit the fastest IPL fifty in just 15 balls and scored 62 off 19 balls. The chase was back alive. But then Pooran got out too, and LSG still needed 24 off 18 with their last couple of wickets in hand.
Harshal Patel bowled Mark Wood and got Unadkat caught in the deep, bringing the game down to 1 needed off 1 with 1 wicket remaining. Harshal attempted to run Bishnoi at the non-striker’s end but missed the stumps and the ball was declared dead. On the re-ball, he beat Avesh Khan, but Dinesh Karthik couldn’t collect cleanly, and the Lucknow pair completed the single.
LSG won by 1 wicket, off the last ball, chasing 213. The tightest finish in the history of this fixture.
Match 2: Lucknow, May 2023
RCB came back to Ekana Stadium three weeks later. They posted only 126/9, and somehow bowled LSG out for 108 to win by 18 runs.
But nobody remembers the scorecard from that night.
After the handshakes, words were exchanged between Naveen-ul-Haq and Kohli. Gambhir then pulled his batter Kyle Mayers away from a conversation with Kohli. Seconds later, Gambhir was seen approaching Kohli with his players, including KL Rahul, trying to restrain him. Once the two got in each other’s faces, Amit Mishra stepped in between.
It had actually started during the match itself, when Kohli urged his bowlers to bowl short at LSG’s tailenders. Naveen took offence and the exchange extended from the 17th over right through to the post-match handshakes.
Kohli said afterwards in RCB’s dressing room: “That’s a sweet win boys. A sweet win. If you can give it, you got to take it. Otherwise don’t give it.”
Gambhir is now India’s head coach. Naveen-ul-Haq left LSG. Kohli’s still at RCB. But fans remember that night in Lucknow the way they remember a thunderstorm: vivid, unsettling, and oddly satisfying.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Lucknow Super Giants Timeline Reveiw
IPL 2024: Mayank Yadav’s arrival
This is the match that the Chinnaswamy crowd probably still hasn’t fully processed.
A 21-year-old with almost no IPL experience walked onto RCB’s home ground and physically frightened their batters. Mayank Yadav bowled 3/14 at speeds regularly touching 150 kph and LSG won by 28 runs.
Cameron Green, Glenn Maxwell. Two players who don’t rattle easily. Both rattled. It was one of the rare occasions when a bowler completely dominated at the batting-friendly Chinnaswamy.
LSG’s second win in the fixture. Both their wins had come at Bengaluru.
At that point, LSG had beaten RCB twice at Chinnaswamy and hadn’t lost there yet. RCB had beaten them everywhere else but couldn’t crack their own backyard.
IPL 2025: the 230 chase
This was the last game of the league stage. RCB needed to beat LSG in Lucknow to finish in the top 2 and book a place in Qualifier 1.
LSG, already eliminated from the playoffs, had nothing to play for. Rishabh Pant had everything to prove.
LSG skipper Rishabh Pant walked in and ended the innings unbeaten on 118* off 61 balls, taking his side to 227/3. The knock was studded with 11 fours and 8 sixes. He celebrated his hundred by doing a flip.
RCB needed 228. Virat Kohli and Phil Salt gave them a start of 61 in 5.4 overs. Kohli went on to make 54 off 30, but after his dismissal in the 12th over, RCB were 132/4 with the required rate climbing.
ESPNcricinfo’s forecaster gave RCB a 21% chance of winning at that point.
Stand-in captain Jitesh Sharma then produced a breathtaking 85* off just 33 balls to lead RCB to the third-highest successful run chase in IPL history. He came in at 21%. He finished the job with 8 balls to spare.
With this win, RCB became the first team ever to win all 7 away matches in a single IPL season. They went on to beat Punjab Kings in the final and win their first IPL title after 18 years.
LSG didn’t just lose a game that night. They accidentally launched a championship.
IPL 2026, match 23: April 15, Bengaluru
RCB came into this game with something to prove at their home ground. LSG had won every single match at Chinnaswamy between these two sides, 2 from 2, across 2023 and 2024.
RCB won the toss, chose to bowl, and their bowlers produced a masterclass on a two-paced pitch. Rasikh Salam took 4 wickets, Bhuvneshwar Kumar took 3, Krunal Pandya took 2, and Josh Hazlewood took 1. LSG were bowled out for 146, their lowest score of the season.
RCB chased it down in 15.1 overs. Virat Kohli scored 49, Rajat Patidar added 27, and the game was over with nearly 5 overs to spare.
RCB finally broke LSG’s stranglehold at Chinnaswamy. First time winning there in this fixture. And the win pushed them to the top of the IPL 2026 points table.
IPL 2026, match 50: May 7, Lucknow
The second meeting of 2026 is tonight at Ekana Stadium, LSG’s home.
Virat Kohli has 442 runs in 10 matches at an average of 49.11 and a strike rate of 158.42. Mitchell Marsh leads LSG’s batting with 398 runs across 10 matches at 155.46.
The venue history matters. Both of LSG’s wins in this rivalry have come at their home ground. RCB have won 2 of 3 matches in Lucknow, but LSG’s best performances consistently happen here. The Ekana pitch slows the game, tests patience, and doesn’t reward careless batting the way Chinnaswamy does.
For LSG, this is also about form. They’ve been inconsistent in 2026, their batting floor significantly lower than RCB’s. For RCB, a win here would extend the head-to-head to 6-2 and cement their position near the top of the table heading into the final stretch.
RCB VS LSG Timeline Head-to-head stats
| Season | Venue | Winner | Margin |
| 2022 Eliminator | Eden Gardens (Kolkata) | RCB | 14 runs |
| IPL 2023 | Chinnaswamy (Bengaluru) | LSG | 1 wicket |
| IPL 2023 | Ekana (Lucknow) | RCB | 18 runs |
| IPL 2024 | Chinnaswamy (Bengaluru) | LSG | 28 runs |
| IPL 2025 | Ekana (Lucknow) | RCB | 6 wickets |
| IPL 2026 (M23) | Chinnaswamy (Bengaluru) | RCB | 5 wickets |
| IPL 2026 (M50) | Ekana (Lucknow) | TBD | — |
Overall head-to-head: RCB lead 5-2 (through 7 completed matches)
| Stat | RCB | LSG |
| Highest total | 230 | 227 |
| Lowest total | 126 | 108 |
| Wins batting first | 2 | 2 |
| Wins chasing | 3 | 0 |
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Lucknow Super Giants Timeline Venue breakdown
M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
RCB have 1 win here in this fixture (April 2026). LSG had 2 wins before that, in 2023 and 2024. The ground historically favors batting, which made Pooran’s 81 and Mayank’s pace spell all the more striking. RCB finally got their Chinnaswamy win in April 2026.
Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow
3 matches played here. RCB have won 2, LSG have won 0 at home in this fixture. The pitch tends to slow the game, but RCB’s 230 chase in 2025 reframed what’s possible there. RCB have actually dominated this ground in the head-to-head.
Eden Gardens, Kolkata
One match. The 2022 Eliminator. Patidar’s 112*, Hazlewood’s 3-wicket haul, Harshal’s death-over defense. The only neutral-ground meeting between these sides, and arguably the most complete performance RCB have produced in this fixture.
Player records in this fixture
Top run-scorers
| Player | Team | Runs | Innings | Avg | SR |
| Faf du Plessis | RCB | 238 | 5 | — | 145.12 |
| Virat Kohli | RCB | 200+ | 5+ | 49+ | 158+ |
| Rishabh Pant | LSG | 118* (1 innings) | 1 | — | 193.44 |
| Rajat Patidar | RCB | 112* + more | 4+ | — | — |
| Nicholas Pooran | LSG | 111 (inc. 62 off 19, 81 off 27*) | 3 | — | 300+ |
*Note: Pooran’s 81 is often cited in this fixture but his 2023 Bengaluru innings was 62 off 19 balls. The 81 off 27 balls figure circulates in some sources; his strike rate in that innings was ~300.
Top wicket-takers
| Player | Team | Wickets | Innings | Economy | Best |
| Josh Hazlewood | RCB | 9 | 3 | 7.54 | 4/25 |
| Rasikh Salam | RCB | 4+ | 2+ | — | 4 wkts |
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar | RCB | 3+ | 2+ | — | — |
| Avesh Khan | LSG | 3+ | 4+ | — | — |
| Mayank Yadav | LSG | 3 | 1 | 3.50 | 3/14 |
Hazlewood’s 9 wickets in 3 innings is the most dominant bowling record in this fixture by a distance. His 4/25 in the 2022 Eliminator is the single best bowling performance across all matches between these sides.
A rivalry still writing itself
RCB are one of the original IPL franchises, playing since 2008, and won their first IPL title in 2025 after 18 years. LSG entered the league in 2022 and are still searching for their first trophy.
That gap explains some of what you see on the field. RCB play with the confidence of a team that finally knows how to win. LSG play with the hunger of a franchise that’s been competitive but hasn’t converted it yet.
8 matches in, and this Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Lucknow Super Giants rivalry has already produced a knockout century from a player who almost wasn’t in the squad, a last-ball heist at Chinnaswamy, an on-field altercation that involved 3 countries and 2 coaching staffs, and a 230 chase that launched a championship.
Tonight’s match in Lucknow adds another chapter. It won’t be the last.
