In an exciting yet rain-affected match, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) lost to the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for the second straight IPL 2026 season. The captain of the RCB, Rajat Patidar, attended the post-match news conference and gave a lengthy speech regarding his team's strategy and results this season. Patidar believes that the Bengaluru team is not playing with the mindset of defending champions, even if they are defending the IPL title they won the previous year.
After the closely contested match against Lucknow, Patidar told the media that the team doesn't have the mentality to defend; instead, they want to play an offensive game as they did last year and win the trophy.

"This season, we are not competing as the reigning champions. We have the chance to reclaim our title as champions. Therefore, we don't want to play an offensive game; we don't have the mindset to defend (the trophy). The new season has begun. We did this in 2025. Since this is a new season, we are making every effort to support the team.
Mitchell Marsh, Lucknow's opening batsman, scored a superb century to give his team a solid start. Patidar acknowledged that the Australian big hitter's knock put pressure on RCB and couldn't stop praising him. However, he believes that RCB could have won the match with just a few boundaries.

"Mitchell Marsh batted well on this wicket. Additionally, the wicket was a good batting track. Additionally, I believe he placed some pressure on us with the manner he began the powerplay. I believe we had time to reflect after that because of the manner our bowlers dominated the game, the middle break, and the rain. Overall, I believe I am happy with how we bowled and managed the game, both at the beginning and the end. I believe we were behind by two shots during the game. "I believe those missed runs were the reason we lost the game," he remarked.RCB is now in third place in the standings after the loss. They remain one of the favourites to advance to the playoffs.