Indian Premier League 2026
2026 · 10 teams · T20 cricket
Tournament Overview
Series Overview
The 2026 Indian Premier League — the 19th edition — will be remembered as the season of Vaibhav Suryavanshi and the crowning of Royal Challengers Bengaluru as a dynasty in the making. RCB, who had ended an 18-year wait to lift their first IPL title in 2025, arrived at the 2026 tournament as defending champions under Rajat Patidar. They navigated the league stage and playoffs with consistent performances from Virat Kohli and a clinical bowling unit to reach the final at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad for the second consecutive year. Facing Gujarat Titans, chasing 156, RCB's chase was anchored by Kohli — now 37 — who produced one of his great IPL final performances, scoring 75 off 42 balls to lead his side home with 12 balls to spare at 161/5. The victory made RCB only the third franchise to defend an IPL title. Yet the individual story of IPL 2026 was almost entirely owned by 15-year-old Rajasthan Royals prodigy Vaibhav Suryavanshi. In only his second IPL season, he finished as the tournament's leading run-scorer with 776 runs, striking at 237.3 — figures that would be extraordinary for an experienced international, let alone a teenager still two years from being eligible to vote in India. He swept the Orange Cap, MVP, Emerging Player and Most Sixes awards. Kagiso Rabada, by contrast, produced one of the great IPL bowling seasons for a team that fell short — his 29 wickets for GT included crucial strikes throughout the knockout stages and made him the tournament's dominant bowler.
Key Highlights
- 1RCB became only the third franchise in IPL history to defend their title, joining CSK (2010–11) and MI (2019–20)
- 2Virat Kohli scored 75 off 42 balls in the final, winning Player of the Match to seal a second consecutive title
- 315-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi won four individual awards: Orange Cap (776 runs), MVP, Emerging Player and Most Sixes (72)
- 4Suryavanshi's strike rate of 237.3 — the highest of any batter with 500+ IPL runs in a single season
- 5Kagiso Rabada (GT) claimed the Purple Cap with 29 wickets despite his team finishing as runners-up
- 6GT's Shubman Gill led his side to the final in his debut season as full-time captain, falling 5 wickets short of the trophy