IPL Pulse: Headshot

Good morning...

... and a happy Sunday. Happiest Sunday, if you're a CSK loyalist. But stay buried in bed if you wore blue last night. The El Clasico, both legs, was mild and one-sided. CSK keep themselves in the hunt. MI are further down in the doldrums with no respite in sight.

Missed the action? We got you covered with Cricketlineguruji Pulse, your two-minute scan of the IPL-verse.

Last night in five lines

Dhir, Rickelton punch through the Powerplay after second-ball setback

MI's rickety middle order bungles up strong start, Pandya crawls to a nothing knock

Kamboj claims three, MI can't break-free

Samson's boom-or-bust IPL goes on, but Gaikwad extends his form

Kartik makes a mark, MI's bland attack falls apart

Oh, that happened

CSK's biggest win (by wickets) over MI in the IPL.Mumbai's batting managed to really unravel like an old sweater, losing steam from 99/2 in the 11th over to end up with 159/7. Between overs 7 and 15, they lost three wickets for 63. Even on a two-paced pitch, that wasn't going to be enough, in any way. Not our game, not our season: Pandya would later concede.

Awards

Rickelton bags the got-your-back award for covering up for Jacks's sins. For five balls, Jacks would have been cursing himself after shelling a sitter off Samson's bat. Rickelton's grab ensured he didn't do that all night.

Kamboj gets the concussion-pest award for finding new ways to give batters a headache. As if his spell wasn't enough, he hurled a throw at the back of Krish Bhagat's helmet from point-blank. Samson couldn't hide his smile.

Pandya gets the slow-poke award for taking the life out of the MI innings, and making it worse by justifying the need for "calculative cricket"

Dube grabs the (does he?) drop-the-dolly award for his butterfingers moment that was just as bad as Jacks's. It took super sub Sarfaraz's sharp snare to show how it's really done.

MI get the revenge-weak award for turning revenge week into anything but.

Talking point

Anshul Kamboj, jointly at the top with the Purple Cap, has been instrumental in pulling things back for CSK in the 16-20 overs band. It's the phase where he's taken more wickets than anyone, with a hugely impressive dot-ball percentage of 44.7. And he's done that predominantly with a round-the-wicket angle. A rare Indian death-bowling delight for CSK in a facet otherwise dominated by overseas quicks.

Who's saying what?

Pandya looked visibly flustered with a mic in hand after the game. When asked if the bowlers could have been more aggressive, he said: "I don't know what aggressive we would have been, we would have had to throw some fireballs to get them out".

If you were wondering why Akeal Hosein did not turn up, Gaikwad explained that they looked at adding more batting cushion, right up until No.9. Not that they needed to go that far eventually.

Kartik Sharma said the pitch was a little slow and the spinners were getting some grip, so he adjusted accordingly. Quoting Mike Hussey, Gaikwad said if Kartik gets going, he's going to give CSK a lot more over the years.

Stat snack

MI-CSK matches are becoming increasingly one-sided. Since 2020, CSK are leading 9-4, closing the overall deficit down to 20-21. Since 2023, they have won six out of seven games over them.

Tonight's watchlist

KKR, not the loss-machine they were a while back, run into a red-hot SRH in a bid to stay afloat. Hyderabad have won their last five games this season, but Kolkata have a 5-3 lead against them since 2023 (and overall). Expect a solid duel.

There's more to come as a resurgent GT brace for a PBKS test. Titans have hit their stride, but PBKS, stung last game, will come hard.

One reckless prediction for tonight

Ajinkya Rahane, out to prove a point, hits more sixes than Head, Abhishek and Klaasen combined, saving his defensive skills for the press conference.