IPL Pulse: Salt flies, Duffy lands

Good morning. Here's today's edition of Pulse, your scan of the IPL universe.

1. RCB began their season in style, hammering SRH by six wickets at home. They won the toss, which is often where their Chinnaswamy troubles begin and end.

2. Jacob Duffy delivered early strikes with hard lengths, discipline, and spongy bounce, drawing top-edges.

3. Phil Salt did the rest with his fielding. One catch tumbling over himself, careful not to brush the cushions; another flying to his right, taken one-handed. Both ridiculous.

4. Ishan Kishan, on captaincy debut, made 80 off 38. Aniket Verma kept the six-hitting habit from last year intact. SRH's 201/9 was never enough, not with their bowling line-up at the Chinnaswamy.

5. Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal (Impact Sub for Duffy) made sure of that. Both hit fifties, added 101 off 45 for the second wicket, and the chase was wrapped up with 26 balls to spare. It was the least overs taken to complete a 200-plus chase in IPL!

Virat Kohli is gushing over Devdutt Padikkal, saying he had "plans of going aggressive in the Powerplay" but when he saw Padikkal batting, he decided to "keep putting him back on strike." Jacob Duffy described his bilateral series against India and the T20 World Cup as "a couple of tough moments, definitely a few long showers thinking things through!"

SRH's bowling looked below par. Conditions eased for batting in the second innings, but the make-up felt off. Where's Mohammed Shami? Instead, Nitish Reddy had the new ball. It was a night where their Powerplay issues, poor lengths, lack of pace, and questionable auction choices were laid bare.

It didn't help that Pat Cummins is in rehab and that Brydon Carse was hit on his bowling hand in the nets. Daniel Vettori said they are "hoping" Carse is good to go against KKR in a few days.

We have to talk about Phil Salt's catch. It ended Ishan Kishan's knock on 80 off 38. For a season that began with whispers about him losing his spot, Salt began with three sharp catches. Two were outstanding, and one was outrageous.

Some grounds just have a type. The two times the IPL has opened at the Chinnaswamy, a Kiwi has walked away with Player of the Match: Brendon McCullum in 2008 and Jacob Duffy in 2026.

The no-longer-homesick award goes to Jacob Duffy. After struggling on flat decks in India, he found a Chinnaswamy pitch that responded to his lengths. "I haven't seen this kind of bounce in the last couple of months," he said.

The keep-digging-it award goes to Krunal Pandya, whose low-arm darts seemed aimed at uncovering something beneath the surface. Ishan Kishan wasn't interested; he kept it strictly above ground.

The ageing-like-fine-wine award goes to Virat Kohli. Not just how he looks, but how he plays. As the younger lot focus on timing, Kohli has quietly made room for the slog.

The is-it-an-Uber-Air award goes to Phil Salt for briefly taking the airborne route in central Bangalore.

My little birdies tell me that KKR weren't thrilled seeing Venkatesh Iyer on the bench. RCB, who got him for 7 crore, didn't even use him as an Impact Sub.

It's KKR up against MI at the Wankhede. A fine, balanced contest to get the season going… or so the schedule suggests.

Here are the facts. MI have beaten KKR 24 times, the most one team has beaten another in the IPL. At the Wankhede, MI have 10 wins against KKR. Since 2023, MI also have the best home win percentage. But there's still something to watch: how KKR cope without Andre Russell, what Abhishek Nayar brings as head coach, and how Angkrish Raghuvanshi fares against Jasprit Bumrah.

Reckless prediction for tonight's match

The ball will be changed in the second innings, but not because it turned pink.