After 20 matches of IPL 2026, it’s clear that all expectations of this being the most explosive IPL season ever have so far been met – and perhaps exceeded. The run rate is higher than it has been at the corresponding stage of any previous season, more 200-plus totals have been achieved – the count is already 20 in 20 matches – and the rate of hitting sixes is the best it has even been. The heady concoction of ever-evolving batting techniques, batters’ fearlessness, and the Impact Sub rule have combined to ensure a run-fest like never before.
Powerplay overdrive
For the first time, the run rate after 20 matches has touched ten runs per over. The previous highest at the same stage of a season was 9.52, in 2025. Much of that has been the result of some stunning powerplay numbers: the run rate in that phase has gone up to 10.44, more than a run higher than it was last year.
The powerplay power-hitting has probably been the biggest change in IPL over the last five years – the graph below indicates just how much batting in that phase has evolved. From a staid 7.49 in 2022, it has jumped to 10.44 in 2026 – an increase of 39%. In the same period, the middle-overs run rate has gone up too, but by just under 14%, while death-overs numbers have dropped marginally to under ten runs per over. In fact, the difference in run rates between the death overs and powerplay was at least two runs per over in the previous four years and has dropped to half a run per over this year.
A closer look at the powerplay comparison over the last five years highlights the impact of sixes. The balls-per-six number has dropped from 14.48 to 11.05, an improvement of almost 24%. Range-hitting is a favourite term among experts, analysts and batters, and from the numbers below, it’s easy to see why.
200-plus is the new normal
Perhaps the best illustration of batter domination this season is the ease with which 200-plus totals have been achieved. Compared to 11 such totals in the first 20 games last year, this time there have already been 20. Teams batting first have achieved it 11 times in 18 innings (excluding the washout in Kolkata, and the 11-overs-per-side game in Guwahati).
More tellingly, it has become quite normal for teams batting second to get to these targets. There have been five successful chases of 200-plus targets in 11 attempts so far, with the highest being Mumbai Indians overhauling Kolkata Knight Riders’ 220 with five balls to spare at Wankhede.
Apart from the five successful attempts, there have also been two instances when the team batting second lost but came very close, scoring more than 95% of the target – like in Gujarat Titans (GT)’ six-run loss to Rajasthan Royals, and Delhi Capitals (DC)’ one-run defeat to GT.
When the targets have been between 200 and 220, the teams chasing have fancied their chances, winning four times and coming within 5% of their target twice. The only relatively comfortable win was Chennai Super Kings’ 23-run victory against DC. That’s a significant change from previous seasons, when teams won or came close under 50% of the time.
Fifty in a flash
T20 cricket isn’t a format where batter milestones matter that much, but the balls taken to reach 50 is another measure which illustrates the run-scoring urgency in IPL 2026. Out of 48 individual scores of 50 or more, five have come in under 20 deliveries; last season, only one out of 44 fifties achieved this mark after the first 20 matches.
Similarly, 29% of all 50-plus scores have come in under 25 balls this season, and 60% in under 30 balls; the corresponding percentages last year were 18 and 52, respectively.
The contrast from just five seasons back is huge. In 2022, only 10.5% (four out of 38) of 50-plus scores in the first 20 games came in under 25 balls; that percentage has gone up almost three times, to 29%, while the percentage of such scores in under 30 deliveries has almost doubled.
The bowlers might hit back later in the tournament as the pitches dry up and perhaps make run-scoring more difficult, but so far, IPL 2026 has been all about the batters soaring to new heights.
With inputs from Shiva Jayaraman
