Marsh hits century as Lucknow ends 6-match losing streak in Indian Premier League

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Mitchell Marsh hit an aggressive century to help last-place Lucknow Super Giants snap a six-match losing streak with a win over defending champion Royal Challengers Bengaluru in a rain-affected Indian Premier League game Thursday.

In the nine-run victory on DLS Method, Marsh smashed 111 off 56 balls with nine sixes and nine fours in Lucknow’s total of 209-3 after the game was reduced to 19-overs-a-side due to rain interruptions during Lucknow's innings and Bengaluru’s target was revised to 213.

Virat Kohli fell for a two-ball duck in Bengaluru’s chase of 203-6 when his off stump was knocked over by Prince Yadav (3-33) in the second over. Captain Rajat Patidar smacked 61 off 31 balls while Tim David (40), Krunal Pandya (28 not out) and Romario Shepherd (23 not out) also played cameos to bring Bengaluru close to the target.

Bengaluru stayed at No. 3 on the points table. Lucknow remained at the bottom of the table after its third win of the season.

“It was a good game for us, for sure,” Lucknow captain Rishabh Pant said. “We have been trying to put together a perfect game where batting and bowling comes together … really happy to get a win here.”

Kohli’s first IPL duck since 2023 left Bengaluru struggling at 9-2, but Patidar revived hopes with his aggressive batting — especially against fast bowler Mayank Yadav (0-50) and spinner Digvesh Rathi (0-50).

The return of Prince in the 11th over earned Lukcnow wickets of Devdutt Padikkal, who got deceived by a slower ball, and struggling Jitesh Sharma, who top-edged a pull shot to Pant behind the wickets.

Shahbaz Ahmed's return to in Lucknow’s starting lineup also paid off as he dismissed Patidar in his first over and then when David looked to take the game away, he had the Australian caught at cover point in the 16th over. With Bengaluru needing 20 off Rathi’s final over, the spinner conceded just one boundary to seal the game for Lucknow.

“We were sure of how we wanted to go about the target,” Patidar said. “We did well, just one or two shots behind … difficult to analyze just after the game, but we have four games more (and) we’re taking it one step at a time.”

Earlier, Marsh’s second 50-plus score of the season set the tone for Lucknow’s challenging total. His aggression against the pace in the power play saw him completing the half-century off only 20 balls before he raised his first hundred of the season off 49 balls.

Lucknow had raced to 95-0 in nine overs when rain briefly stopped play, but Marsh not only dominated the pace of his fellow Australian Josh Hazlewood, he was also equally aggressive against Suyash Sharma and Krunal Pandya, scoring 90 of his runs in boundaries.

Pant then provided a perfect finish with a quickfire 32 off 10 balls as the Lucknow skipper smashed last three balls from Rasikh Salam Dar for 4 4 6 and Lucknow added 64 runs of their last five overs.

Bengaluru stayed at No. 3 on the points table. Lucknow remained at the bottom of the table after its third win of the season.

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

Lucknow Super Giants' Prince Yadav, center without cap, celebrates with teammates the wicket of Royal Challengers Bengaluru's Devdutt Padikkal during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow, India, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (AP Photo)

Royal Challengers Bengaluru's Virat Kohli is bowled out by Lucknow Super Giants' Prince Yadav during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow, India, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (AP Photo)

Lucknow Super Giants' Mitchell Marsh, left, celebrates his century with his batting partner Nicholas Pooran during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow, India, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (AP Photo)

Lucknow Super Giants' Mitchell Marsh plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow, India, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (AP Photo)

Weeks before Jeffrey Epstein killed himself in a decrepit Manhattan jail in 2019, he was found on the floor of his cell, alive but with marks on his neck.

He was placed on suicide watch, but later made a startling allegation to the guard watching over him: Epstein said his cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, had tried to kill him.

Tartaglione — a former police officer then awaiting trial and a possible death sentence in a quadruple murder case — had a different version of events.

He told his lawyer Epstein had tucked a suicide note inside one of the former officer's books. He handed the note over to his legal team but its existence got scant mention in the years afterwards — even after Epstein's suicide in a different cell about three weeks later was scrutinized by federal investigators and a skeptical public.

On Wednesday, almost seven years after the incident, the note Tartaglione says he found was publicly released for the first time after a judge unsealed it from records that were part of an unrelated legal dispute.

It isn’t clear whether the note is authentic or a forgery, when exactly it was written or whether its cryptic language amounts to a suicide note, as Tartaglione claims.

Here is what to know about Tartaglione, now 58, and why the note stayed out of public view for so long:

After retiring as a police officer on a disability pension in 2008, authorities say Tartaglione turned to dealing drugs and eventually orchestrated the kidnapping and murder of four men in 2016.

Tartaglione believed that one of the men, Martin Luna, had stolen money from him that was meant to be used to buy cocaine, according to prosecutors. The burly former police officer lured Luna to a bar, tortured him in an effort to find out where the money was, and when he didn’t get the answer he was seeking, strangled Luna with a zip tie, authorities said.

Three men Luna had brought with him that night — a mix of friends and family – were shot in the head. All four were buried on Tartaglione’s property, according to prosecutors.

Tartaglione was arrested in December 2016, and was still awaiting trial three years later when he found himself sharing a cell with Epstein at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. In 2022, prosecutors announced they were no longer seeking the death penalty. Tartaglione was convicted in 2023 and later sentenced to four consecutive life terms.

Epstein was found in the cell with Tartaglione around 1:30 a.m. the morning of July 23, 2019, according to jail records. He was taken out and placed on suicide watch elsewhere in the jail. That's when the guard says he sat up and accused Tartaglione of trying to kill him. Epstein claimed the cellmate had tried to extort money from him, and threatened to beat him up if he didn't pay.

However in an interview with jail staff a week later, Epstein said had never had any issues with Tartaglione, was not threatened by him and didn’t “want to make up something that isn’t there,” records show. He said he was not suicidal.

After 31 hours on suicide watch, Epstein was downgraded to psychiatric observation. He was without a cellmate when he was found dead at the jail on Aug. 10, 2019. Officials said they found a handwritten note in Epstein’s cell at the time, but it didn’t appear to be a suicide note so much as a list of grievances about the filthy conditions at the jail, which has since been closed.

Authorities concluded that Epstein killed himself and that the first incident was likely a missed opportunity to take steps needed to prevent a second suicide attempt.

A chronology included in files about Epstein's case recently released by the Justice Department said Tartaglione told his lawyer about the note four days after the suspected July 23 suicide attempt.

Jail staff made no mention of the note in a report recounting an interview done with Tartaglione in late July. "Tartaglione stated he does not understand Epstein’s motive and what he is trying to do,” the report said. Tartaglione said he thought Epstein was having a heart attack.

The note was later submitted as evidence in Tartaglione’s drug murder case and was placed under seal amid a dispute over his legal representation.

Tartaglione mentioned it publicly in an interview for a podcast last year, as he sought to dispel the persistent conspiracy theories that Epstein did not kill himself. “It was in my book. When I got back into the cell, I opened my book to read and there it was,” Tartaglione said in the phone interview from prison.

The note itself is hard to parse.

“They investigated me for month — found nothing!!!” says the short note. “It is a treat to be able to choose” the “time to say goodbye,” the note continues. “Watcha want me to do — Bust out cryin!!”

FILE - This March 28, 2017, photo provided by the New York State Sex Offender Registry shows Jeffrey Epstein. (New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP, File)

This document, released Thursday, May 7, 2026, by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, shows a note that Jeffrey Epstein’s former cellmate said he found after Epstein’s reported suicide attempt in July 2019. (U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York via AP)