IPL Pulse: Welcome back and welcome home

Good morning.

Chances are you downed too many last night, missed most of the action and are now terribly hungover. Well, fret not, here's today's edition of the Pulse, your 2-minute morning scan of the IPL universe. It might not help with the hangover but at least you'll know what you missed.

Last night in five lines

CSK registered their first win of the season after beating DC by 23 runs at Chepauk.

Sanju Samson struck a sizzling 115, making a much-anticipated mark wearing yellow to take CSK to 212/2.

DC slipped from 61/0 to 76/4 with CSK's pacers brute-forcing their way through the middle order. Jamie Overton scalped four while Anshul Kamboj had three.

Earlier, PBKS hunted down 220 on a canter against SRH. All of Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh and Shreyas Iyer struck fifties.

SRH blitzed 105 inside the Powerplay, with Abhishek Sharma smacking a 28-ball 74, but the assault fizzled as they finished with 219.

Oh, that happened

CSK won a game, at Chepauk no less! They had lost six games at home in the lead-up to this one and not only did they win, but they have landed on a new template that may finally unlock home dominance again. Of course, Samson's ton lit up the night but it's the performances of Overton, Kamboj and Gurjapneet Singh that'll likely please the think-tank more.

Pulse Awards

The VRS-championaward goes to Ayush Mhatre for embracing retirement while batting on 59 off 36.

The not-quite-me award goes to Ruturaj Gaikwad and Heinrich Klaasen for not quite being themselves.

The licence-to-fly award goes to Noor Ahmed for an incredible save on the boundary and to Sarfaraz Khan for a stunning catch at backward point.

The maybe-baseballaward goes to Marco Jansen for a nonchalant one-handed catch in the deep that definitely didn't need to be one-handed.

The butterfingers award goes to the Delhi Capitals for dropped catches and several lapses in the field.

Talking Point

CSK aren't the only team finding a winning-formula for home-games. Over the last two seasons, PBKS have quietly been establishing dominance at home and the key to their success - understanding the Powerplay paradox. Numbers suggest that batting becomes dramatically more difficult post the Powerplay at New Chandigarh, something that was quite evident in SRH's innings yesterday. Punjab have been effective at exploiting this trend, both while batting and while bowling.

The Chatter

"That was for Fleming," said Sanju Samson, dedicating his century to CSK's coach. "I know how hard it can get. Leading a franchise from last five years, I know how mentally challenging it can be. So I just wanted to dedicate this to our coach Fleming," he added.

"Definitely we don't have that X-factor in our bowling lineup," admitted CSK's skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad. Some of his worries definitely eased after the performance his bowling unit delivered last night. "Bowling-wise, we were right on the mark," he added.

Stat Snack

Delhi Capitals have been bowled out 31 times in the IPL - the most by any team.

Gossip Column

It's a Sunday today and the birdies are enjoying some well-earned rest. Come on, they need a day off too. They'll be back with some juicy stuff tomorrow. They did mention something about prospective overtime before they headed off though, not sure if they were talking about themselves or about a certain captain.

Today's watchlist

Another double-header Sunday and it begins with the Lucknow Super Giants facing the Gujarat Titans at home. Later, everybody's beloved Ro-Ko will be in action, albeit in opposing teams as RCB take on MI at the Wankhede.

Reckless prediction for today

Both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will score centuries.