New Delhi: One can count on the Delhi Capitals to buck the trend. In a season dominated by the bat, Axar Patel’s team crashed to 13/6 at the end of their Powerplay against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. But this collapse was merely an aberration, not the trend.
By most yardsticks, the 2026 season of the Indian Premier League has been absolutely nuts. But what if someone tells you that the first 38 matches of the season in 2024 and 2025 were perhaps just as mad?
After 38 matches this season, we have seen 13,782 runs scored, with 8 centuries, 75 fifties, 1,194 fours, and 683 sixes. In 2025, we had 13,518 runs at the same point, with 3 centuries, 75 fifties, 1,142 fours, and 655 sixes. In 2024, the corresponding numbers were 13,934 runs, 7 centuries, 63 fifties, 1,153 fours, and 666 sixes. The difference is negligible.
If the numbers in 2026 seem lower than you might have instinctively guessed, that is solely because three teams — Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders — who between them account for 13 titles (in the 19 seasons) aren’t quite striking it right yet.
So even though Punjab Kings, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals are cooking up a storm, the overall difference doesn’t show because of the stragglers. But make no mistake, this season is distinct.
In the 2026 season, the big difference has been the Powerplay approach. A run-rate of 10.06 is higher than we have seen in any of the previous five seasons and once the teams get going, there is simply no stopping them.
“There was a time when the T20 game was slightly different, and I, as an opener, could take my time,” said Delhi Capitals’ KL Rahul after scoring 152 off 67 balls against Punjab Kings on April 25. “But today’s demand is that the first six overs are the most important. I had to sit back and see where I was at. I stuck to being true to my game. In T20 cricket, that’s the mindset I’m in right now – that there’s no time to say later. There’s time in ODI cricket… [but in T20s] there’s no time to think you can go next over.”
Rahul ended up on the losing side despite scoring 264/2 but this mindset throws caution to the winds and attacks like there is no tomorrow. It comes from the understanding that in T20 cricket only the now matters. Every dot ball is an opportunity missed; an opportunity to hit a four or a six.
That is something PBKS manager Ricky Ponting has tried to drive home for a while now and it was seen in his side’s approach. A chase of 264 in the past would have demanded that one batter get a ‘Big Daddy’ hundred (as Rahul did).
But PBKS did it in T20 style, with contributions from multiple batters, all focused on having a high strike-rate. As a result, in the chase, not a single PBKS batter had a strike-rate lower than 166.66.
The good starts have led to free-flowing middle overs and the momentum has often carried forward to the slog overs (16-20) too. This is why, after 38 matches in the IPL 2026 season, there have been 32 totals of 200 or more runs i.e. a 200+ total every 2.37 innings.
At a similar stage in IPL 2024 and 2025 (after 40 innings), we had far fewer 200+ totals — just 21. Both seasons ended up with record 200+ totals — In 2024, we set a new record of 41 and then in 2025, we ended up with 52. The 2026 season should top that with ease.
“First up, credit to all teams who are chasing down such big totals and also to the teams that are setting such massive totals. The game has changed, the landscape of T20 cricket is changing every day and you see these scores and think wow, it’s just incredible, inhuman at times the way teams have been batting,” said RCB batting coach and mentor Dinesh Karthik on Sunday. “It’s obviously a challenge batting-wise because you’re trying to be so much more aggressive and with the ball it’s a different challenge, you’re trying to protect as much as you can and try and do your best at it.
He added: “This IPL is actually constantly raising the bar for teams across the world and for the players who are playing because they need to reinvent, they need to obviously make sure that they are moving along with how fast the game is going.”
RR opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has for many been the face of this season. In 8 innings, he has faced just 152 balls for his 357 runs at a strike-rate of 234.87. To put it simply, the average Sooryavanshi innings lasts 19 balls but during that stay in the middle, he can score 44.63 runs. He is clearly an outlier and not everyone can do this. But that won’t stop them from trying.
And to Karthik, that is what matters.
“I’m very happy with the place that IPL is in,” said Karthik. “I think in many ways it’s an example of how cricket should be played and for that matter, even (how) other sports should be played because there are definitely areas where each team is going back to the drawing board and saying this is where we need to improve and they are addressing it at the end of each season and that’s why you see the standards increasing with every passing year.”
If this season stands out for its sheer audacity, then perhaps the same is true for every season before that. The boundaries are there to be pushed and when that doesn’t work, then do what Sooryavanshi does… simply clear them.