Mitch Marsh 50 not enough as Lucknow Super Giants fall to fourth straight Indian Premier League defeat

Mitch Marsh scored a half-century — his best knock of the IPL season — but it still was not enough to deliver a badly needed victory for Justin Langer's struggling charges, the Lucknow Super Giants.

Australia's T20 skipper did his best to bail out a sinking ship on his home ground in their 40-run defeat against Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday, local time, hitting his first 50 of the campaign while wickets were tumbling all around him.

Eventually, though, a couple of balls after he flat-batted Nandre Burger for a big six over long-off to reach his half-century, the opener himself proved the decisive sixth wicket to fall as he reached for a wide one from the South African quick and lofted it to Royals' skipper Riyan Parag at extra cover.

It was a grievous disappointment for the Langer-coached Super Giants, who had earlier bowled excellently after putting Rajasthan in, left-arm quick Mohsin Khan getting rid of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for just eight and going on to take a mean 2-17 off his allocation as Lucknow was restricted to 6-159.

Only a breezy 43no off 29 at the death from the evergreen all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja gave the total an air of respectability.

Naturally, Jadeja also got into the act with his crafty spin, going on to win the man-of-the-match award as he grabbed the key wicket of Nicolas Pooran, who had threatened to wrest back control with Marsh after Lucknow had spiralled to 3-11.

"The wicket was not easy to bat on because the ball was seaming and swinging," Jadeja said.

"In T20 cricket, you never know. In the last over, you can cash in, and we did … the ball was gripping so when bowling slow, I got some hold, and that helped."

Marsh had not had a stellar season, unable to push on to a 50 despite enjoying knocks of 40, 40 and 35 earlier in the campaign, but he will still have been frustrated after moving to his 55 off 41 balls, including two sixes and six fours, that he should be hoodwinked by Burger (2-27).

Until that point, Lucknow still had reason for belief, but Archer (3-20), bowling at 150 kilometres an hour, then ripped through the tail to become Rajasthan's all-time leading wicket taker and bowl out the Super Giants for just 119 with a couple of overs remaining.

Archer now has 68 scalps from 54 matches and has left behind a couple of Rajasthan's former Australian stars, Shane Watson, who took 61 wickets, and Shane Warne, who snaffled 57.

Rajasthan has moved on to 10 points, one behind the Ricky Ponting-coached leaders, Punjab Kings, but Lucknow has now lost four on the bounce and is ninth of the 10 teams, just ahead of Cameron Green's Kolkata Knight Riders.

"I don't have answers, the batting has let us down," Lucknow skipper Rishabh Pant said.

"We are disappointed as a team, as a group … no excuses out there. Including myself, we could have taken it deeper. As a batting group, we have to put our hands up."

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