Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 8 (ANI): Former India opener Aakash Chopra has hailed the explosive batting of Mitchell Marsh after his match-winning century that helped Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) defeat defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) by nine runs in a high-scoring IPL clash on Thursday night.

Marsh played a dominant knock at the top of the order, smashing 111 off 56 deliveries to power LSG to 209/3, setting up a strong total in the rain-shortened encounter. The right-handed batter was named Player of the Match for his superb innings.

Speaking on JioHotstar, Chopra highlighted Marsh's consistency at the top and his ability to dominate pace attacks with clean hitting.

'Marsh is the only batter in this entire LSG setup who has batted at the same position throughout the tournament. Everybody else has been moved around,' JioStar expert Chopra said.

He further praised the Australian star's power-hitting, noting his ability to take on fast bowlers and dominate both sides of the wicket.

'He's got the strength. He's a very different kind of opener. He's tall and has long levers and, therefore, goes downtown. The moment you start hitting fast bowlers over their heads and into the stands, where do you actually bowl to him?' he added.

Chopra also pointed out Marsh's impact against RCB pacer Josh Hazlewood, saying his form has been a key factor in recent matches.

'You can't bowl short to him because he's brilliant square of the wicket, and the way he took down Josh Hazlewood was phenomenal,' he said.

He added that RCB's bowling struggles have coincided with consecutive defeats, underlining Marsh's influence on the contest.

'It's twice in two games now that Josh has leaked a lot of runs... RCB have also lost two on the bounce, so there is a correlation because if he goes for runs, then there are problems,' Chopra noted.

Lucknow defeated Bengaluru by nine runs at Ekana Stadium. The hosts posted 209/3 in 19 overs, powered by a brilliant century from Marsh and late contributions from Nicholas Pooran and Rishabh Pant.

Chasing 213 under the DLS method, RCB suffered an early collapse with Prince Yadav dismissing Virat Kohli for a two-ball duck. Despite a strong 95-run partnership between Rajat Patidar (61) and Devdutt Padikkal (34), and late resistance from Tim David, Krunal Pandya and Romario Shepherd, RCB finished at 203/6, falling short by nine runs.

Prince Yadav (3/33) and Shahbaz Ahmed (2/33) led the bowling effort for LSG, while Marsh was named Player of the Match for his match-defining century. (ANI)