IPL Pulse: Dizzy screams and deja vu black soil

Good morning,

It is a "fresh day" and the "sun has risen again". Those are universally true, even if you were on the night shift like some of us, and those were also Hardik Pandya's words at the toss as MI looked to of a four-match losing streak. Turns out, the line aged well.

MI GT for the first time in Ahmedabad [link match report]

GT captain Shubman Gill opted to chase at a ground where first innings runs matter, and so it proved

MI got to 199/5, thanks to Tilak Varma's unbeaten 45-ball ton

Tilak was 19 off 22 at one point; the next 23 balls went !

Ashwani Kumar, back in the setup, picked a four-fer as GT crumbled to 100 all out and their biggest defeat in terms of runs

After five wicketless IPL games this season, Jasprit Bumrah picked a wicket. Off the he bowled! And all it took was giving him the first over. His captain, ecstatic at the post-match presentations, explained how "it was not a Hardik Pandya problem" that Bumrah wasn't being given the first over. "It's just that Jasprit Bumrah is so special that you use him wherever it's required for the team, not when you start."

The goes to Mahela Jayawardene for not retiring out Tilak when he was on 19 off 22.

The goes to the black-soil pitch for playing exactly like November 19 for the home side.

The like- goes to debutant Krish Bhagat for hitting his lines and lengths right from the first ball on IPL debut.

The goes GT's middle order for being there but also not.

MI came in as the worst Powerplay bowling side in IPL 2026, with seamers picking up just 3 wickets in 5 games (avg 87, ER 10.87). Giving Jasprit Bumrah the new ball, only for the 7th time in 151 IPL matches, brought immediate with a wicket off the first delivery, as GT lost one in the opening ball for the first time in 66 games. With matchups in their favour, MI's quicks then removed Jos Buttler and Shubman Gill, the first time GT's top three were dismissed inside the Powerplay, and that was the game done early.

Hardik hailed the "very special, much needed" win and admitted he screamed so hard at some of Tilak's shots that he "kind of got dizzy". He also reckoned it was "about time Tilak came and delivered."

Tilak said that "the first hundred will always be special" and he was looking to spend more time in the centre. And how he's "got all the fancy shots and when the team needs, I can use them."

Shubman felt "160-160" was par on that wicket and GT "gave away too many runs in the middle overs." He said he'd like to see this hammering as a "small hiccup".

James Franklin, SRH assistant coach, reckoned Nitish Reddy's pace "is definitely up" and also how the allrounder has been "planning his overs and sequencing his balls."

Tilak Varma is the first MI batter and overall 9th player to outscore the opposition in IPL. The last batter to do so was KL Rahul (132*) playing for PBKS against RCB (109) at Dubai in 2020.

Was this another case of Ahmedabad getting too clever with its black-soil pitch pick? There was a faint sense of deja vu as the surface "didn't quite behave to script", and birdies say there's unrest in the background. The black-soil strip at the stadium might quietly be phased out, with an all-red square in the making. "I love the idea, one less choice to make," said a source who's a fan of Mark Zuckersburg's closet full of gray tees.

SRH DC in Hyderabad. Watch out for Nitish Reddy's pace, one of the talking points this season.

Travis Head to deposit one into the crowd and another one on the roof.