IPL Pulse: Main characters and deleted histories

Good morning,

It's Saturday, and here's a quick finger-five to our ball-by-ball crew because there's just the one game today. Last night, another eliminated side slipped into party-pooper mode and CSK felt it the hard (length) way.

Here's your Cricketlineguruji Pulse, your 2-min scan of the IPL-verse.

Last night in five lines

Akash Singh blew CSK's top order away early, leaving them wobbling at 52/3

Kartik Sharma (who's arrived in IPL and then some) rebuilt with a composed 71 off 42

Shivam Dube remembered he's Shivam Dube and launched CSK to 187 with 6, 4, 4, 6 in the final over

Marsh then launched sixes against hard length balls, smashing a 38-ball 90 before he backed up too far and was unfortunately run-out at the bowler's end

Pooran finished it with four straight sixes, because why not

Oh, that happened

Akash Singh kept pulling out notes after wickets like a man with reminders set for every breakthrough. One of them said, "Akki knows how to take wickets in T20 cricket." He later said: "When you are not playing regularly in the IPL, you have to keep pushing yourself constantly. Throughout the season and even in the off-season, I kept working hard."

Pulse Awards

Akash Singh gets the main-character-energy award for turning a league game into his personal highlight reel with notes, wickets and zero subtlety

Mitchell Marsh wins the I'll-handle-this award for turning a tricky chase into a Powerplay exhibition

Nicholas Pooran gets the skip-to-end award for wrapping things up with 6, 6, 6, 6 like he had somewhere else to be

Anshul Kamboj receives the please-delete-match-history award after 63 in 2.4 overs and eight sixes conceded, joint-most by a bowler in an IPL innings!

Talking point

IPL hadn't seen the best of Mitchell Marsh until recently. Since joining LSG in 2025, he's the fourth-highest run-getter in IPL while striking a six every 9.9 balls, the best in the league. The damage has been most severe in the Powerplay, where he has combined a high average with aggressive scoring to set games up early, even on tough Lucknow surfaces this season. His 56 off 22 in the Powerplay against CSK summed up the version of Marsh the IPL had long waited to see.

The chatter

Marsh summed up his bizarre run-out with a shrug, "Cricket's a funny game, isn't it?"

Pant revealed the thinking behind the batting shuffle: "I was ready to bat, but the idea came in... why not try players who haven't got much chances". He added, "I still wanted to be out there in the field, but sometimes you have to respect the think-tank's decision."

Ruturaj didn't overanalyse it, saying there was "nothing much better we could have done from a batting point of view" and gave LSG their due, calling those "extraordinary shots" in the chase

Stat snack

188 by LSG was their fifth highest successful chase and they got there with 20 balls to spare

Gossip column

Statisticians all over the world are burning old articles and books that promised IPL qualification with 16 points. Two teams have already gotten there but qualification, nah. Not yet. There are also unverified reports of mathematicians pacing around whiteboards, circling the number "16" repeatedly and shouting "this used to mean something." There have even been small marches demanding DLS be applied to the points table to end this math misery.

Tonight's watchlist

KKR host GT, who are on a five-match winning streak and could seal qualification with one more. Keep an eye on Varun Chakaravarthy, who is in line to return after missing the last game through injury.

Reckless prediction for tonight

GT's quicks will turn Eden into a full-blown Test match, since the venue itself rarely gets the courtesy anymore.