Anshul Kamboj was having an IPL 2026 to remember, till he came up against a rampaging Mitchell Marsh and an in-the-mood-for-a-change Nicholas Pooran in Lucknow on Friday.

After conceding 11 runs in his first over, the third of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) innings, Kamboj was taken for 28 in his second, the fifth of the innings, when Marsh sent him for 6, 6, 6, 6 off the first four balls, before Kamboj’s foot came in the way of a powerful hit off the fifth ball, and the over was then closed with a four. Kamboj went far, far away from the attack after that before returning in the 17th with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) left with just 24 runs to defend. Pooran went 6, 6, 6, 6 off the first four balls, and that was that.

“The guy has been bowling so well throughout the season, you’re bound to have a bad day,” Ambati Rayudu said on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut show. “It’s like, it’s like getting a duck. You’re getting a golden duck.

“And if you look at those balls that he has bowled, except for that last ball that [fifth] over to Mitch Marsh [down the leg side], other than that, most of the balls were decent. It’s just some incredible hitting. And he came across Mitch Marsh and Nicholas Pooran, who is just finding form.”

From LSG’s point of view, it was a reminder of what could have been had Marsh and Pooran, two of their batting mainstays last season, had found their form earlier in IPL 2026.

“That’s where it sucks to be a bowler. Like a batter can be betting terribly and just go sweet as, hit one straight up,” Mitchell McClenaghan said. “That’s hard. That’s a bit… it’s the perfect storm, isn’t it? You got Mitch Marsh, who has been in good form. You’ve got LSG out of the competition. So you’ve got a man who doesn’t mind if he gets out because it doesn’t mean anything to the competition. So he’s just swinging.”

Marsh smashed 90 in 38 balls. Pooran finished with an unbeaten 32 from 17 balls – he was eight from 13 before that last assault on Kamboj. And LSG beat CSK by seven wickets with 20 balls in hand.

Rayudu suggested that CSK were missing a few “smart heads” in the field, men who could have had a quiet word with Kamboj – hint: MS Dhoni – when things were going so horribly wrong for him.

“I feel the CSK side, when you look at them at the ground, they’re not too many smart heads, experienced heads there,” Rayudu said. “Players who could just control the game, who can just go and give [Kamboj] a pat, saying, ‘boss, just wait, hang on for ten seconds, tie your laces up’.

“Not so many cricket smarts on the ground except maybe Sanju [Samson, the wicketkeeper]. And he is generally not someone who… it’s too far away. He doesn’t intervene.

“Maybe ask ‘what do you think a slower ball can do – do you think it’ll work?’ So that will click his thinking. Don’t ever suggest something. Just ask him a question. ‘Do you think we can go this route? Do you think we can bowl a yorker now? Do you think it will work?’ Just change his chain of thought. Don’t get him lost in that moment.”

McClenaghan agreed. “I think that’s a really good point. Sometimes it’s almost frustrating when the keeper runs up to you because it looks bad. You know what I mean? It almost feels worse. But then, you’re right. You need a senior leader at mid-on or mid-off… Like the guys around the world who do it so well, like Chris Jordan and the [Kieron] Pollards and those guys.”

As it happened, Kamboj returned none for 63 from his 2.4 overs. For a man with 19 wickets for the season – and still the third place on the Purple Cap table – it was almost like a thud back to earth.