Before LSG Gig, India's Arshin Kulkarni Crushed USA In U19 World Cup

Arshin Kulkarni [Source: AFP]

Arshin Kulkarni made his return to the LSG playing XI for the first time this IPL 2026 season, doing so for the match against defending champions RCB. Batting first at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Thursday, May 7, the youngster started off with an explosive opening partnership with Australian champion and senior partner Mitchell Marsh.

While Kulkarni mostly played second fiddle to Australia’s T20I skipper, the 21-year-old did so with much tenacity, smartly rotating the strike and hitting the occasional boundary in LSG’s must-win game.

The innings also revoked memories of the time when he shot himself to nationwide prominence back during the 2024 ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup in South Africa. Taking on USA in India’s final Group A match of the tournament a couple of years ago, the attacking right-hander composed a dazzling 108 at a brisk pace.

Throwback to Arshin Kulkarni’s U19 audition

Shortly after leading the India U19 team at the 2023 Asia Cup, Arshin Kulkarni was selected in the national squad for the 2024 ICC U19 World Cup in South Africa.

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In the match against the USA at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein on January 28, the then 19-year-old was tasked to open the innings with Adarsh Singh. Batting first, Kulkarni started off with a 46-run partnership with Singh, before crafting 155 runs for the second wicket with fellow IPL star Musheer Khan.

During his 56-run stand with captain Uday Saharan for the third wicket, the youngster notched up a regal century, scoring 108 runs off 118 balls at a strike rate of 91.52. The cricketer launched three huge sixes and eight cracking boundaries in the innings as India U19 mounted 326-5 in 50 overs.

India U19 ended up winning the match comfortably by 201 runs after bowlers Naman Tiwari (4-20) and Raj Limbani (1-17) collectively demolished the USA.

Rise of Arshin Kulkarni in competitive cricket

Arshin Kulkarni joined the India U19 team in 2023, and even led the side at the 2023 Asia Cup. A few months later that year, the cricketer made his domestic debut for the Maharashtra team, doing so in the 2023 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match against the Bengal team in Mohali.

Shortly after the U19 World Cup 2024 in early 2024, the youngster made his first-class debut during the 2023-24 Ranji Trophy season for Maharashtra. In January 2025, the talented all-rounder made his first List A appearance.

To date, the cricketer has played 11 first-class matches, scoring 605 runs at an average of 37.81 with a century and four half-centuries in the process. He has also aggregated over 1,000 runs in 30 white-ball games with two hundreds.

Kulkarni’s IPL career

Arshin Kulkarni was roped in by the LSG franchise for the 2024 edition of the IPL. He played two matches in his maiden season of 2024, and failed to find a place in the XI throughout the IPL 2025 season in India.

It took him two more years to find a place in the LSG XI once again, doing so for the match against the RCB on Thursday, May 7.

With LSG desperately searching for a spark amid a disastrous IPL 2026 campaign, Kulkarni now has a golden opportunity to translate his prodigious domestic and youth-level promise into impactful performances on the grandest T20 stage.

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