Prasidh Krishna is beginning to make a mark at IPL 2026. Three nights after his clever slower bouncer to David Miller sealed a tense last-ball win over Delhi Capitals, he followed it up with 4 for 28 – blending typical Test-match lengths with sharp pace-off variations – as Gujarat Titans made it two in two, this time edging out Lucknow Super Giants in their own backyard on Sunday.

Mohammed Siraj and Ashok Sharma were just as vital at the two ends of LSG’s innings, striking early and closing things out respectively. They played the perfect supporting acts to Prasidh’s headline-grabbing performance to restrict LSG to 164. GT captain Shubman Gill then calmly anchored the chase, scoring a half-century off 34 balls. His second-wicket stand of 84 with Jos Buttler helped them scale the target in 18.4 overs with seven wickets in hand.

The mini-battle to watch was Mohammed Shami vs Gill: India’s bowling veteran looking to force his way back into the international reckoning, up against the country’s current Test and ODI captain. Shami had set it up nicely, conceding just 10 runs off his first two overs, with enough movement to keep Gill honest.

It had all the makings of a proper contest. Until Gill consigned it to one-way traffic in the third, as he peeled off three fours and a six. That six was no ordinary hit, but a lofted hit on the up, straight over Shami’s head, eliciting an extra second’s pose to the cameras. The boundaries were pleasing too: a delectable leg glance, a stab through the covers, and a wristy flick over midwicket. This helped Gill gallop towards a half-century.

Buttler gave more than an inkling of form in the previous game when he made 52 off 27 against DC. Having come in at the fall of Sai Sudharsan’s wicket – he helped a half-tracker straight to short fine off Digvesh Rathi in the sixth- Buttler punched one through the covers off the third ball to raise GT’s fifty.

Rathi was unlucky not to have Buttler in his second over when he nicked behind, for Rishabh Pant to put down a regulation chance on 12. LSG would rue that missed opportunity as Buttler quickly took charge to dismantle the spinners, forcing Pant to turn to his faster men quickly.

In came Avesh Khan with a plan of trying to hit hard lengths but Buttler responded by hitting him for three back-to-back fours off the 12th over, and soon brought up his half-century, his 100th in T20s, off just 29 balls. By now, the chase was down to being a mere formality. He celebrated the fifty by reverse-sweeping Linde over point.

Gill fell with the target in sight, gloving a short ball behind off Prince Yadav, but Buttler stayed on to seal victory.

Kagiso Rabada began by being hit for 10 off his first two deliveries, but had Mitchell Marsh pick out mid-on to complete a fine comeback as GT struck early. This brought Rishabh Pant to the middle, and he seemed keen on taking the attack to the bowlers, but was snaffled by Siraj’s hard lengths as the ball caught the splice and lobbed to mid-off to leave LSG 45 for 2 in the fifth.

One second, Prasidh had hands on his head when Aiden Markram’s imperious flick just eluded a diving Glenn Phillips running across from deep square leg. Three balls later, he celebrated his first when Markram picked out deep midwicket perfectly. In his second over, Ayush Badoni fell in almost identical fashion as LSG slumped to 74 for 4 in the ninth.

That brought Nicholas Pooran to the middle, but this wasn’t the white-ball destroyer, but an avatar searching for form and confidence; his stroke play lacked any kind of fluency as the faster men kept tucking him up. Pooran seemed to have found a release when he hit Rashid Khan for back-to-back sixes, but that surge was all too brief with the end almost tame as he flat-batted Prasidh’s into-the-pitch delivery to Gill at mid-off. Pooran made 19 off 21.

He should’ve been run out off his third delivery when he tried to pinch a single to cover, but Ashok Sharma missed the stumps at the striker’s end despite having all three stumps to aim at from short cover. Then Mukul was hit on the helmet by a 150.2kph bouncer from Ashok.

But not long after, the trademark whip behind square that he unleashed to astonishment in Kolkata three nights ago,  made an appearance, eliciting hopes of a grandstand finish. But that wasn’t to be as he got a big nick behind attempting to pull Prasidh’s slower bouncer. His 18 off 14 helped LSG nudge past 150, before Shami and Linde’s mini-cameo set up a 165-target.

Six overs in, it became increasingly evident those were at least 30-40 runs too little.

Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 165 for 3 in 18.4 overs  (Sai Sudarsan 15, Jos Buttler 60, Shubman Gill 56, Washington Sundar 21*, Rahul Tewatia 10*; Mohammed Shami 1-36, Prince Yadav 1-31, Digvesh Rathi 1-31) beat Lucknow Super Giants 164 for 8 in 20 overs  (Aiden Markram 30, Mitchell Marsh 11, Rishabh Pant 18, Nicholas Pooran 19, Abdul Samad 18, Mukul Choudhary 18, George Linde 16, Mohammed Shami 12*; Mohammed Siraj 1-19, Kagiso Rabada 1-54, Ashok Sharma 2-32, Prasidh Krishna  4-28)  by seven wickets

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Sanju Samson’s first century for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) set up the team’s first win in IPL 2026 and their first win at home after six successive defeats, stretching back to the previous season.

Samson flew out of the blocks in the powerplay, scoring 45 of CSK’s 61 runs, in the first six overs. He had over 32,000 fans whistling at Chepauk when he reached his half-century off 26 balls. He had those fans whistling louder and chanting his name when he converted it into a 52-ball century.

A fifty from Ayush Mhatre, before he was retired out, and a cameo from Shivam Dube took CSK up to 212 for 2. That total, however, appeared smaller when DC’s openers Pathum Nissanka and KL Rahul blazed past fifty in the fourth over of their chase. CSK then struck thrice in the next three overs to send the chase spiralling out of DC’s control.

Though Tristan Stubbs battled with 60 off 38 balls, the mounting asking rate was too much to overcome. Jamie Overton’s 4 for 18, which included the prized scalp of Stubbs, was central to CSK’s successful defence.

After CSK were asked to bat first, Samson scythed the second ball he faced from debutant Auqib Nabi for four. He never let his attacking intent or enterprise let up in the powerplay, crashing a total of nine fours in 19 balls in the powerplay. In stark contrast, Ruturaj Gaikwad managed to find the boundary just once in 17 balls during this phase.

Gaikwad’s first-15-ball strike rate of 104.54 in four innings this season is the lowest among 20 batters who have opened at least twice.

When Gaikwad was itching to break free after the powerplay, Axar Patel darted one into the red-soil pitch and cramped the batter on the pull, having him splice a catch to deep midwicket for 15 off 18 balls.

Lungi Ngidi’s slower ball, which he developed during his time at CSK under Dwayne Bravo, has made a number of batters look silly in this IPL and the T20 World Cup prior to it. But when Ngidi pulled out the variation for the first time on Saturday, Samson picked it, held his shape for long enough and flayed it away past sweeper cover. When Ngidi responded with an on-pace short ball outside off, Samson opened the face of the bat and dinked it between the keeper and short third for four more.

But it wasn’t until the 11th over that he hit a six, which was also CSK’s first six on the day. When T Natarajan missed a yorker and bowled a full-toss, Samson slugged him high and far over midwicket. In all, Samson took the left-arm seamer for 33 off 13 balls. It also included the edged four that brought him his hundred in the 18th over.

This was Samson’s fourth ton in the IPL. Only Virat Kohli (8), Jos Buttler (7), Chris Gayle (6) and KL Rahul (5) have hit more hundreds than Samson in the league. DC could’ve cut Samson’s knock short on 52 had Nissanka not dropped a catch at long-off.

Mhatre raised his fifty off 27 balls, but was retired out after he managed only eight off his last nine balls. Samson and Dube then combined to push CSK past 210.

The presence of three right-handers in DC’s top three encouraged CSK to bring in left-arm fingerspinner Akeal Hosein as their Impact Player. Hosein, though, showed signs of early nerves, bowling two front-foot no-balls in the first over of the chase. One of the resultant free hits was swiped over midwicket for four by Nissanka. Hosein ended up conceding 20 runs in his two powerplay overs and didn’t return to bowl.

Nissanka also lined up left-arm seamer Khaleel Ahmed for a pair of fours and a six in the second over. Rahul moved to 18 off 10 balls before Khaleel stopped him in his tracks with a short ball into the pitch. Despite that, DC scored 61 in their first five overs.

At the start of the final over of the powerplay, Anshul Kamboj had Nissanka glancing the ball to Khaleel at short fine leg, but he shelled the chance. It didn’t cost CSK anything as Kamboj had Nissanka chipping it to mid-on, where Dewald Brevis, who had recovered from a side injury, held onto the catch.

Left-arm quick Gurjapneet Singh then marked his IPL debut with a first-ball wicket. He darted one short and wide, having Axar slicing it to point, where Sarfaraz Khan dived to his right and plucked the ball out of thin air.

Overton then hit a hard length and had Sameer Rizvi holing out to deep midwicket for 6 off 19 balls. Overton kept hitting a hard length and made life harder for DC’s middle order.

Stubbs then mounted a late fightback with a half-century and narrowed the equation to 32 off 12 balls. Overton, though, cranked it up to nearly 145kph and had him splicing a catch to mid-off in the penultimate over. Kamboj then finished off DC in the final over, sending a packed weekend crowd into raptures.

Brief scores:
Chennai Super Kings 212 for 2 in 20 overs  (Sanju Samson 115*, Rutraj Gaikwad 15, Ayush Mhatre 59 retired out, S hivam Dube 20*; Axar Patel 1-39) beat Delhi Capitals 189 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 41, KL Rahul 18, David Miller 17, Tristan Stubbs 60,  Ashutosh Sharma 19; Khaleel Ahmed 1-40, Jamie Overton 4-18, Gurjapneet Singh 1-39, Anshul Kamboj 3-35, Noor Ahmad 1-36) by 23 runs

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Punjab Kings trumped Sunrisers Hyderabad in a battle of explosive top orders, chasing down 220 with more than an an over to spare. Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head put on 120, and Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya responded with a 99-run partnership of their own before Shreyas Iyer ensured the rest of the chase went smoothly.

The winning runs were scored by Shashank Singh, who was more pivotal on the day with the ball, dismissing both SRH openers in a single over to begin a slowdown they couldn’t recover from. Having got to 120 for no loss in eight overs, SRH scored just 99 in their last 12.

Shashank took 2 for 20 in three overs, finishing with an economy rate of 6.66 in a game where 442 runs were scored.

This was the tenth time PBKS had chased down a 200-plus target, the most times by any team in the IPL.

They teased it against Kolkata Knight Riders, but in New Chandigarh, the Travishek show well and truly arrived at IPL 2026. Abhishek slapped the first legal delivery of the game over covers to lay down the marker. He drove Xavier Bartlett down the ground twice next up. And then in the third over, the fireworks really began.

Abhishek pulled a short ball from Arshdeep Singh over midwicket and then slapped a slower ball down the ground for back-to-back boundaries. Arshdeep went on to bowl four wides in his next five attempts to keep the ball out of Abhishek’s arc. Under pressure, he ended up bowling closer to off and was thumped down the ground for the first six of the game. When Arshdeep went around the wicket and bowled short and across the left-hander, Abhishek went up and over short third for another six.

Head, on 3 off 5 at this point, joined the party by taking down Marco Jansen for two fours and a six in the fourth over.

When PBKS turned to Vijaykumar Vyshak, Abhishek welcomed him with a six over cover and then hit him for three more for the second 24-run over of the powerplay, in the process bringing up an 18-ball fifty. Head followed up with a hat-trick of boundaries against compatriot Bartlett. One legal ball later, when Abhishek pulled a short ball in front of square for a six, SRH brought up their hundred in 35 balls, making it the fifth time a team had reached 100 inside the powerplay – three of them had come courtesy this opening pair. Their 105 for no loss at the end of the sixth over was the joint-third-highest powerplay score in the IPL.

With PBKS’ frontline bowlers getting hit around the park, Shreyas turned to Shashank’s medium-pace, and it turned out to be the turning point in the game.

He conceded just six runs off the first over after the powerplay, and off the first ball of his next over he foxed Head with a slower ball that he chipped tamely to long-off. A single and a wide later, he had Abhishek slicing to cover for 74 off 28. With that, Shashank had three IPL wickets, and they were of Abhishek, Head and Abhishek.

From there, the scoring rate dropped significantly. Ishan Kishan scored briskly, but Jansen took a screamer running from deep midwicket to end his cameo in the 14th over. Heinrich Klaasen, meanwhile, could never really get going, and fell as he tried to accelerate at the death, falling for 39 off 33. In the end, SRH finished on 219 for 6, the lowest first-innings total when an IPL team has scored 100 or more in the powerplay.

Chasing 220 can be daunting. But perhaps less so if you’re chasing 220 when you know your opponents left some runs out there, especially in the Impact Player era.

SRH opted for Harsh Dubey’s left-arm spin first up and Arya welcomed him with a sweep for four, before launching the last two balls of the over down the ground – once over the rope and once along the carpet – to knock 18 runs off the target.

Then Prabhsimran took over the scoring. The next three overs went for 37, to which Arya contributed just the one run. Prabhsimran took a special liking to Jaydev Unadkat, whom he hit for three sixes.

The fifth over by Eshan Malinga went for 17, and PBKS saved the best of the powerplay for the last over, with Arya going 6, 6, 4, 4 to bring up a 16-ball fifty and welcome Harshal Patel into the attack with a 21-run over.

Brief scores:
Punjab Kings 223 for 4 in 18.5 overs (Priyansh Arya 57, Prabhsimran Singh 51,Cooper Connolly 11, Shreyas  Iyer 69*, Nehal Wadhera 14, Shashnak Singh 16*; Harsh Dubey 1-38,   Shivang Kumar 3-33) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 219 for 6 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 74, Travis Head 38, Ishan Kishan 27, Heinrich Klaasen 39,  Aniket Verma 18; Arshdeep Singh 2-50, Xavier Bartlett 1-42, Shashank Singh 2-20) by six wickets

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