IPL in 26 numbers: A quirky tale

IPL 2026 is done. Here are a few intriguing numbers that sum up the quirkiness of the season.

14 Seasons after which Mumbai Indians began an IPL campaign with a win. They never entered the top four at any stage and finished second from bottom for the third time in five seasons.

986 Runs scored on April 25 – the most ever on a single day in IPL history. PBKS chased 265 against DC in the afternoon before SRH pulled off a 229-run heist against RR at night.

15 Different batters wore the Orange Cap in IPL 2026, surpassing the previous record of 12 in 2018. The cap changed hands 31 times and no batter managed to keep it for more than a week in a single stint.

1 IPL 2026 became the first season in which every team produced an individual centurion. Nine teams also conceded one. The lone exception? CSK.

5 Overseas players used by GT all season: Jos Buttler, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Jason Holder and Glenn Phillips. It's the joint-fewest by any team in an IPL season and the first such instance in the Impact Player era.

189 The swing between DC's successive innings totals. They smashed 264/2 against PBKS on April 25 and were bowled out for 75 by RCB two days later, both in Delhi and both ended in defeats.

1 PBKS became the first team to go unbeaten through the first half of a season (six wins and a no-result) and still missed the Play Offs. They also became the first side to follow a six-match winning streak with a six-match losing streak in the same season.

32 Instances of a batter hitting a six off the first ball they faced – the most in an IPL season. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Devdutt Padikkal did it three times each.

32 Sixes hit by Cooper Connolly – the most by a batter in his debut IPL season, surpassing Sanath Jayasuriya's 31 for MI in 2008.

2 Separate 50-plus partnerships in the same innings by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Ravindra Jadeja. They added 73 off 37 balls for the third wicket and 54 off 28 for the sixth.

36 Boundaries hit by Virat Kohli against GT across four innings – the most by a batter against a single opponent in an IPL season. Eighteen came off Kagiso Rabada, against whom Kohli scored 88 runs from just 37 balls.

19 Seasons it took for Virat Kohli to win a Player of the Match award in an IPL Play Off or knockout game. It finally arrived in the final against GT, where he also brought up his fastest IPL fifty (off 25 balls).

1 Vaibhav Sooryavanshi became the first player to complete the treble of MVP, Orange Cap and Emerging Player in the same season. All at the age of 15.

115 Balls Jasprit Bumrah needed to claim his first wicket of the season – the fourth-longest wait by a bowler in an IPL campaign. He added only three more to the tally all season.

3 Players to score IPL hundreds for three different franchises. Sanju Samson and Quinton de Kock joined KL Rahul in an exclusive club.

3 Players to be part of IPL title-winning squads in three successive seasons. Phil Salt and Suyash Sharma have now joined Karn Sharma after winning with KKR in 2024 and RCB in 2025 and 2026.

3 Times Jofra Archer struck with the first ball of an innings in consecutive matches, making him the first bowler to achieve that feat.

8 Wickets taken by SRH's uncapped bowlers against RR in Hyderabad. Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain claimed four each – the most wickets by uncapped bowlers in an IPL innings.

3 Purple Cap winners who have also finished a season as the bowler who conceded the most sixes: Pragyan Ojha (2010), Dwayne Bravo (2013) and Kagiso Rabada (2026). Rabada conceded 40 sixes while taking 29 wickets.

1 Praful Hinge became the first bowler to take three wickets in his first over of an innings in IPL – which also happened to be his first over in the competition. In the return fixture, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi responded by hitting him for four sixes in the opening over.

1 Sai Sudharsan became the first batter to be dismissed hit wicket in successive IPL innings, both in the playoffs. He now has three hit-wicket dismissals, the most by any player in the tournament.

9 DRS reviews taken by Rishabh Pant, eight of those as fielding captain. All nine were unsuccessful. LSG also finished bottom of the table.

3 Mumbai Indians had three different captains in three successive games: Suryakumar Yadav against RCB (May 10), Jasprit Bumrah against PBKS (May 14), and Hardik Pandya against KKR (May 20).

1 The combined participation of MI's Impact Players against SRH at Wankhede. Robin Minz faced one ball in the 20th over, while Shardul Thakur replaced him and wasn't required to bowl.

6-0 RCB's record whenever Jacob Duffy featured in the XI. Among players to appear in at least five games in a season, only Harmeet Singh (seven for Deccan Chargers, 2009) played more matches without tasting defeat.

1 Spinner in the Purple Cap top 10: Rashid Khan with 21 wickets. The only other season with just one spinner in the top 10 was 2016.