SportsInfo Staff

5 Mumbai Indians stars who can be match-winners in IPL 2026

Mumbai Indians reached Qualifier 2 in IPL 2025 despite losing four of their first five matches. That recovery told a specific story about the squad: MI's peaks were title-contending, their troughs relegation-worthy, and the difference often came down to whether one player produced a 15-minute spell that tilted the game. MI entered the December auction with the smallest purse in the tournament at INR 2.75 crore. They bought five players, traded in three, and sent a clear signal: this campaign will be won or lost by the retained core, not new recruits. This is not a list of MI's five best cricketers. Suryakumar Yadav scored 673 runs in IPL 2025 and Trent Boult finished as MI's second-highest wicket-taker, but both are known quantities producing known outcomes. This list identifies five players whose individual match-winning capacity could surprise opponents and define MI's 2026 trajectory. Here are 5 Mumbai Indians stars who can be match-winners in IPL 2026 5. AM Ghazanfar MI paid INR 4.80 crore for an 18-year-old Afghan off-spinner in the IPL 2025 auction, then watched from the sidelines as injury ruled him out for the entire season. Ghazanfar enters IPL 2026 as the most expensive player in MI's history to have zero IPL bowling stats. That price made sense for a reason. In 16 T20 matches before his injury, Ghazanfar had taken 29 wickets at an economy of 5.71. His 6 for 26 against Bangladesh in an ODI made him the fourth-youngest bowler from a full-member nation to take a five-wicket haul in the format. Standing 6'2", he generates awkward bounce for a finger-spinner, and his carrom ball, delivered from the same release point as his stock off-break, has drawn comparisons to Mujeeb Ur Rahman and R Ashwin. The match-winning argument is about timing. MI's spin cupboard in IPL 2025 was bare. Mitchell Santner bowled control overs but lacked a wicket-taking ball. If Ghazanfar returns fit and delivers what his T20 numbers suggest, MI gain a mystery spinner who can strike through the middle overs on surfaces where Wankhede's bounce rewards tall bowlers who extract purchase from the pitch. An 18-year-old Afghan spinner with a point to prove is the kind of variable that opponents cannot game-plan for. 4. Naman Dhir The most underrated player in MI's squad scored 252 runs at a strike rate of 182.60 in IPL 2025, the second-best strike rate among MI batters that season. He was one of only four MI players to feature in all 16 matches. Dhir's origin story at MI tells you something about his value. He was picked for INR 20 lakh in the 2024 auction, played seven games, smashed an unbeaten 62 off 28 balls against Lucknow Super Giants, and was released. MI then used their Right to Match card in the 2025 auction to bring him back at INR 5.25 crore, a 26x increase. Franchises do not burn their RTM on sentiment. What separates Dhir from a typical uncapped six-hitter is his consistency through the tournament. He did not produce one innings and disappear. His strike rate held above 175 across 16 games, mixing boundary hitting with smart running. His right-arm off-breaks offer Hardik Pandya an additional bowling option that does not cost an overseas slot. In a squad loaded with established names, Dhir is the player most likely to produce a 40-off-18 cameo that flips a match MI are losing. 3. Will Jacks On 28 April 2024, Will Jacks went from his fifty to his century in 10 deliveries against Gujarat Titans. No batter in IPL history has bridged that gap faster. His 41-ball hundred remains the fifth-fastest in the tournament, per ESPNcricinfo. Jacks moved to MI for IPL 2025 and scored 284 runs in 12 matches at a strike rate of 157.78. Those numbers were respectable, not spectacular. The match-winning potential lies in what MI have not yet unlocked. At RCB in 2024, Jacks batted at the top and faced the new ball. At MI, he operated at three or four, often walking in after the powerplay. In T20 cricket globally, all four of Jacks's hundreds have come in 50 or fewer balls, and each came when he had license to attack from ball one. If MI promote him to open alongside Rohit Sharma or Quinton de Kock, they pair aggression with aggression in the first six overs, a strategy that can put 60-70 on the board before the field spreads. Jacks also bowls off-spin that generated turn and bounce during The Hundred and county cricket. His 5 for 22 in a T20I against England in 2024, the third-best figures by an Australian bowler in the format, came from bowling that opponents had not prepared for. That dual value, an opener who can also bowl the 12th or 13th over if Pandya needs a rest, makes Jacks a player whose best MI innings is still ahead of him.  2. Hardik Pandya Pandya's evolution from batter who bowls to bowler who bats reshaped MI's IPL 2025 season. Consider the sequencing. In his first six matches of IPL 2025, Pandya picked up 11 wickets and sat joint-second on the Purple Cap table. In one match against Lucknow Super Giants, he dismissed Aiden Markram, David Miller, and Akash Deep off consecutive deliveries in the final over to finish with his first five-wicket haul in 290 T20 matches. That was the spell of a genuine death-over specialist, not a part-timer rolling his arm over. Then rewind to IPL 2024. Pandya's first season back as MI captain produced 216 runs, 11 wickets, and four wins from 14 games. Fans booed him at the Wankhede. The narrative was that MI had traded Rohit Sharma's captaincy for a declining all-rounder. IPL 2025 answered that narrative. Pandya bowled at 140-plus kph, swung the ball in the powerplay, and executed yorkers at the death. His batting value shifted from anchor to accelerator: 148 career IPL sixes show he clears boundaries when MI need 35 off 18. The match-winning case for Pandya is about a player who has found a second career at 32, one where his bowling carries matches and his batting finishes them. 

1. Jasprit Bumrah MI won one of their first four IPL 2025 matches. Jasprit Bumrah missed all four. He returned and MI won seven of their next ten. That is not a coincidence. It is a structural dependency. The statistical case is almost absurd. Among bowlers who delivered 25-plus balls in IPL 2025, Bumrah posted an economy of 6.36 per over. The tournament average was 9.61. That difference, more than three runs per over, created approximately 12-15 runs of pressure across his four-over spell in each match, per ESPNcricinfo analysis. His death bowling operates on a different plane from other fast bowlers. Bumrah's full tosses went at 7.42 runs per over in IPL 2025. For other quicks, the same delivery cost 11.58. His yorkers: 5.49. The league average for fast-bowler yorkers: 6.66. Even his worst deliveries are cheaper than other bowlers' best. But reducing Bumrah to numbers misses what makes him a match-winner in the truest sense. Bumrah changes how teams plan innings against MI. Batters conserve wickets for the 17th and 19th overs because they know those overs will yield 4-6 runs rather than 12-14. That compression ripples backward through the innings: batters take risks against Santner or Ghazanfar in overs 8-12, leading to wickets in phases where MI's other bowlers look ordinary. Bumrah's match-winning value is not that he takes wickets or restricts runs. Other bowlers do that. His value is that he warps the opponent's entire innings plan around avoiding him. The question for MI in 2026 is not whether Bumrah will perform. It is whether his body allows 14 league matches instead of 12, giving MI the full-season version of the player who makes them title contenders.

IPL 2026: Top 3 RCB Batters to Watch Out For

Royal Challengers Bengaluru enter IPL 2026 as defending champions. Their IPL 2025 title campaign was built on batting consistency rather than individual heroics: three different batters scored 300-plus runs, and the opening partnership of Phil Salt and Virat Kohli racked up runs at 10.29 per over, the highest among playoff teams. RCB retained 17 players from that title-winning squad, including all their key batters. Captain Rajat Patidar added Venkatesh Iyer at INR 7 crore in the auction as middle-order reinforcement. The batting lineup that won the franchise their maiden title returns almost unchanged. Three batters will define whether RCB defend or decline. One is the all-time IPL run-scorer chasing a second consecutive title. Another is the captain whose attacking approach changed RCB's DNA. The third is a 21-year-old whose T20 World Cup semi-final century against India in Mumbai made him the most sought-after young batter in world cricket. Here are top 3 RCB batters to watch out for in IPL 2026 3: Jacob Bethell Three sixes off Varun Chakravarthy in one over. A century in 45 balls. India's bowlers silenced at the Wankhede. When Jacob Bethell hit 105 off 48 balls in the T20 World Cup 2026 semi-final, fans called it ridiculous and of the highest quality. At 21, he became the youngest England player to score a century in all three international formats. Six months earlier, Bethell had warmed RCB's bench for most of IPL 2025, appearing only when Phil Salt sat out through illness. That gap between bench player and World Cup sensation is what makes his IPL 2026 selection so fascinating. RCB have four overseas slots. Salt, Tim David, Josh Hazlewood fill three. The fourth has to choose between Bethell, Romario Shepherd, and Nuwan Thushara. Salt's opening partnership with Kohli produced RCB's title. Hazlewood anchored the bowling. Tim David finished innings. Each of those three earned their spot through IPL 2025 performance. Bethell earned his through what happened after. A left-handed batter with 360-degree range, tidy left-arm spin, and electric fielding, slotted at number three and given license to attack from ball one. RCB's 2026 campaign might hinge on whether they back what Bethell did in a World Cup semi-final or protect the formula that won them their first title. 2: Rajat Patidar Before IPL 2024, Patidar averaged below 25 in most IPL seasons. He had never crossed 400 runs in a single campaign. Then he scored 395 at a strike rate of 177.13 with five half-centuries, was handed the captaincy, and led RCB to their first title. The question that follows Patidar into IPL 2026 is whether that breakout was a gear shift or a purple patch. The evidence for a gear shift: Patidar's 67 off 34 balls in the Qualifier against Delhi Capitals, striking at 197.05, was not a slog. He placed the ball through the off side, used his feet against spin, and timed his acceleration to coincide with field restrictions being lifted. That is a batter with a method, not a batter riding form. His strike rate of 177 across a full IPL season puts him in the company of AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell as Bengaluru's batters who have maintained 170-plus. The evidence for a purple patch: two strong seasons do not erase six average ones. At 31, with a title under his belt, Patidar enters IPL 2026 as the captain that opposing teams have now studied. His scoring areas, his weaknesses against left-arm spin, his trigger movements against pace: these are on every franchise analyst's screen. Teams that treated Patidar as a secondary threat in IPL 2024 will game-plan for him in 2026. Whether he has the technical depth to adapt will define RCB's top order as much as anything Kohli does. 1: Virat Kohli Kohli's strike rate dropped in IPL 2025. His production went up. That paradox explains why his IPL 2026 season matters more than any of his previous 18. At 144.71, Kohli struck the ball slower than his peak IPL years. He also scored 657 runs at an average of 54.75 with eight half-centuries in 15 innings. The all-time IPL leading run-scorer, now with 8,661 runs across 267 matches, found a way to score more by risking less. Phil Salt made that possible. Salt's 387 runs at a strike rate of 175.90 meant Bengaluru's opening stands averaged 10.29 per over, the highest among playoff teams. In previous seasons, Kohli absorbed the new ball and carried the scoring load from ball one. With Salt clearing boundaries in the powerplay, Kohli played himself in and accelerated once set. The result was longer innings, fewer early dismissals, and a title. Kohli enters IPL 2026 in a state that the Bengaluru-based franchise have not seen before. He retired from Test cricket during IPL 2025. For the first time in his professional career, he arrives at an IPL season without the accumulated fatigue of five-day matches, overseas tours, and back-to-back series. His body is preserved for white-ball formats alone. He has scored 600-plus runs in three consecutive IPL seasons. Only Chris Gayle (2011-2013) and KL Rahul (2020-2022) managed that before. A fourth consecutive 600-run season has no precedent in the tournament's history. At 38, defending a title, with his workload lighter than it has been since his twenties, Kohli is positioned to attempt something no IPL batter has done. Whether his reflexes and running between wickets hold up through 14 league matches is the one variable that neither stats nor schedule can predict.

5 IPL Records Jasprit Bumrah Can Break (And The Ones He Probably Won't)

Jasprit Bumrah enters IPL 2026 with 183 wickets across 145 matches. He is sixth on the all-time list, tied with Dwayne Bravo, and 15 behind Bhuvneshwar Kumar's pace-bowling record. He is also bowling better than at any point before his 2023 back surgery. Several records sit within reach. A few do not, and pretending otherwise would miss the actual story. What follows is the math: where Bumrah stands, what the gap looks like, how many seasons it takes, and what age he would be when he gets there. 5) Most Maiden Overs in IPL History: Bumrah Needs Six More Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Praveen Kumar share the record with 14 maiden overs each. Bumrah has 8. The gap is six maidens, a number that looks small until you consider that maiden overs in T20 cricket accumulate at a near-glacial rate. At Bumrah's historical rate of 0.055 maidens per match, closing a six-maiden gap takes 109 matches, roughly 8.4 more seasons at current workload. That puts him at 40. But his economy dropped from a career 7.25 to 6.68 in IPL 2025, and the conditions that produce maiden overs arise more often as control tightens. On May 9, 2022, at DY Patil Stadium, Bumrah bowled an 18th-over triple-wicket maiden: Sheldon Jackson, Pat Cummins, and Sunil Narine dismissed without a run scored. He finished with 5/10, 18 of his 24 balls dots, the second-best figures in IPL history. Maiden overs at Bumrah's level do not accumulate steadily. They arrive in clusters. Six more clusters over a career that extends to 35 is not far-fetched, though it is not guaranteed. Trajectory: 6 maidens needed. At current rate: 8+ seasons. At improved economy with clustered performances: possibly 4-5. Assessment: Stretch goal. The slowest path on this list, but the 2022 precedent keeps it alive. 4) Most Dot Balls All-Time: The Record Built One Ball at a Time In IPL 2025, Bumrah bowled 284 balls across 12 matches at an economy of 6.68. His dot ball rate against the league average of 9.61 runs per over produced the most extreme bowler-versus-league differential ever recorded in an IPL season. That is what a dot ball record looks like in real time: not one spell, but an entire season where more than six of every ten deliveries yielded nothing. Bumrah has approximately 1,360 dots in 145 matches, fourth on the all-time list. Bhuvneshwar Kumar leads with around 1,793, having played 190-plus matches. The gap is roughly 430 dots. Both bowlers have accumulated dots at almost identical per-match rates (9.4), which makes the arithmetic clean: Bumrah passes BK when he has played the same number of matches. At 36, BK is unlikely to sustain that rate through IPL 2029. Bumrah should overtake the record between IPL 2028 and 2029, assuming he completes most games per season. The rest of MI's attack conceded at 9.20 in 2025, a 2.52-run-per-over gap that translates directly into extra dots per spell. The record is a matter of longevity, not talent. Trajectory: approximately 430 dots behind. At 9.4 per match: 46 matches, roughly 3.5 seasons. Assessment: Achievable. IPL 2028-2029 window, with BK's age working in Bumrah's favour. 3) Best Bowling Average: The Malinga Inheritance Most people assume this record is safely with Lasith Malinga. The assumption is right, but the margin is narrower than it looks. Malinga holds the best IPL bowling average among bowlers with 50 or more wickets: 19.80 across 170 wickets. Bumrah's career average sits at approximately 22.02 across 183 wickets. To drag 22.02 below 19.80, he needs future wickets at lower cost than his career rate. If he takes his next 100 wickets at an average of 14, roughly what he managed post-surgery, the new career figure works out to approximately 19.2. The math clears, just barely. Before his 2023 back surgery, Bumrah's career average hovered around 23. In IPL 2024, his return season, it was 16.80. In 2025, 17.56. His post-surgery average over two seasons is approximately 17.1, five runs per wicket better than before. The surgery produced a more controlled bowler. Malinga was Bumrah's predecessor at MI, the man whose 170-wicket franchise record Bumrah passed during IPL 2025. Passing Malinga's average would complete that inheritance. Five or six more full post-surgery seasons at current form would do it. Trajectory: Bumrah needs roughly 100 more wickets at an average between 14 and 17 to pull his career figure below 19.80. At 18 wickets per season, that is five to six more full seasons, putting him at age 37-38 at completion. Assessment: Stretch goal. The math works if he sustains post-surgery form, but few fast bowlers have maintained peak performance that deep into their thirties. 2) Most Wickets All-Time: Why Is This Record So Hard for a Fast Bowler? The IPL's all-time wicket list is, structurally, a spinner's domain. Yuzvendra Chahal leads with 221 wickets. Piyush Chawla has 192. Sunil Narine has roughly 192. Of the top six, three are spinners, and Dwayne Bravo bowled slower-ball variations that spared his body. Those are the profiles that manage workload naturally in T20 cricket, take fewer physical tolls, and sustain careers into their late thirties. Bumrah at 183, sixth overall and second among pacers, is already an outlier. The gap to Chahal is 38 wickets. At Bumrah's recent rate of 18-20 wickets per full season, that is two full seasons if Chahal stops playing. He has not stopped. Chahal, also active, adds approximately 10-15 wickets per season. If Chahal accumulates 12 wickets in IPL 2026, his tally reaches 233. Bumrah at 19 wickets reaches 202. After IPL 2027: Chahal at 245, Bumrah at 221. After IPL 2028: Chahal at 257, Bumrah at 239. Even at Bumrah's best, the gap stays alive as long as Chahal plays. The record becomes realistic under one condition: Chahal slows or retires while Bumrah maintains output. Chahal is 35 and may not play five more full IPL seasons. But this is a race with an active opponent, and pace bowlers do not outlast spinners in cumulative counts. Bumrah took 14 wickets in the T20 World Cup 2026, including 4/15 in the final. He was retained at 18 crore, on peak form at 32 with an action built on biomechanics rather than raw strength. If he plays through IPL 2029, he finishes with approximately 255 wickets, past Chahal's current tally even accounting for Chahal's production through 2027. The race ends when one of them stops. Trajectory: 38 wickets needed, but the target is moving. Chahal adds approximately 12 per season. Bumrah closes the gap by approximately 7-8 wickets per season net. Record achievable at age 35-36 if Chahal slows. Assessment: Achievable, but requires 4-5 more seasons and Chahal's decline. The most compelling record on this list because it is not guaranteed.

1. Most Wickets by a Pacer in IPL History: He May Get There This Season Bumrah took 3/32 on IPL debut in 2013, dismissing Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers with an action no one at MI had seen before: wrist cocked at the top, slingshot delivery stride, bounce from a length that defied the Wankhede pitch. Thirteen seasons later, he carries 183 wickets and an economy that has improved every year since his return from surgery. Bhuvneshwar Kumar leads all pacers with 198 wickets entering IPL 2026, on the verge of becoming the first pace bowler to 200. The gap to Bumrah is 15 wickets. At Bumrah's average of 18-20 per season, he closes the gap in under one full season. BK is 36 years old. His economy rate, once among the best in the game, has crept up. His workload in recent seasons has dropped. Even if BK adds 10-12 wickets in IPL 2026 and reaches 210, Bumrah at 19-20 wickets this season would be at 202-203. They would be within a handful of wickets heading into IPL 2027. If Bumrah takes 20 wickets in 2027 and BK takes 10, Bumrah leads by the end of that season. On April 11, 2024, at the Wankhede, Bumrah took 5/21 against RCB, his second career five-wicket haul in the IPL. He dismissed Kohli for 3 off 9 balls in the third over, then returned to the death to remove Faf du Plessis and pin Mahipal Lomror lbw with back-to-back deliveries, a hat-trick ball narrowly missed. ESPNcricinfo's Smart Stats recorded his impact rating at 165.69, the highest ever by a bowler in an IPL match. That kind of performance, the one that changes the shape of a match in four overs, is what separates Bumrah from every other pace bowler in this competition's history. He played MI's opener against KKR in IPL 2026 on March 29. Every match from here closes the distance. Trajectory: 15 wickets behind BK entering 2026. At 18-20 per season: record possible in IPL 2026, more likely by mid-2027. Age at completion: 32-33. Assessment: The most achievable record on this list, and the one with the clearest historical weight. Does he finish this IPL season as the leading pace wicket-taker in the competition's history? The Ones He Probably Won't
2. Best Career Economy Rate (Sunil Narine's 6.77) Narine's career economy of 6.77 covers 192 wickets and roughly 1,800 overs. Bumrah's career rate is 7.25, 0.48 runs per over behind. Even in IPL 2025, his best-ever season economy of 6.68 moved the career number only marginally. Dragging 7.25 below 6.77 over thousands of additional overs, including death-over assignments where economy spikes, is mathematically prohibitive. Narine is a spinner whose role is suppression. Bumrah's role sometimes requires conceding boundaries to take wickets. The record is structurally incompatible with his function.
3. Best Figures in an Innings (Alzarri Joseph's 6/12) Bumrah holds the second-best figures ever with his 5/10 against KKR in May 2022. Joseph's 6/12, taken on IPL debut in 2019 for the same Mumbai Indians franchise, requires six wickets in four overs. In 145 matches, Bumrah has five-wicket hauls in two innings. A sixth wicket requires either a batting collapse of extraordinary proportions or bowling more than four overs, which IPL rules prohibit. The ceiling of his role is a hard boundary against this record.
4. Sustained All-Time Wicket Record Against Future Spinners Even if Bumrah passes Chahal, holding the record long-term is a different task. The cumulative IPL wicket leader, over decades, tends to be a spinner: lower injury rate, longer peak, higher games-per-season availability. Bumrah could sit atop the list briefly. Holding it for more than a season or two against an active spinner field is structurally unlikely.

4 Best overseas players for Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2026

Chennai Super Kings finished last in IPL 2025. The five-time champions responded by overhauling their squad, trading Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran to Rajasthan Royals for Sanju Samson, and spending INR 41 crore on uncapped Indian talent alone. CSK's domestic batting core now runs deep: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Samson, Shivam Dube, Ayush Mhatre, and Sarfaraz Khan give head coach Stephen Fleming five Indian batters who can score at 140-plus strike rates. That depth shifts the overseas question from "Who bats?" to "Who bowls?" and "Who provides the X-factor?" CSK have eight overseas players on their roster. Only four can play. The selection hinges on matching what the Indian core lacks: a wrist spinner, death-overs pace, lower-order power hitting, and a second spin option for turning surfaces.  Here are the 4 Best Overseas Players for CSK in IPL 2026 4: Akeal Hosein CSK signed Akeal Hosein, the Trinidadian left-arm spinner for his base price of INR 2 crore at the December auction. That price undersells his value. Hosein ranks 6th in the ICC T20I bowling rankings and has taken 92 wickets in 95 T20 internationals. In the 2024 T20 World Cup, held in the Caribbean, he picked up 9 wickets at an economy of 5.60, including career-best figures of 5 for 11 against Uganda. Across 253 T20 matches worldwide, he has 237 wickets at an economy of 7.08. What makes Hosein worth an overseas slot is his role as a powerplay enforcer. Unlike traditional left-arm spinners who operate in the middle overs, Hosein bowls upfront with a quick arm action that challenges right-handers outside off stump. CSK's domestic spin options, Rahul Chahar and Shreyas Gopal, are leg-break bowlers who operate through the middle. Hosein gives Fleming a different angle in the first six overs and doubles as a reliable option if conditions turn at Chepauk. Pairing him with Noor Ahmad creates a twin-spin overseas combination tailored for Indian surfaces. Few franchises can match that variety. 3: Jamie Overton With Nathan Ellis facing a hamstring injury ahead of IPL 2026, CSK's pace all-rounder options narrow. Jamie Overton, acquired for INR 1.50 crore, fills the gap that Sam Curran's departure created. Overton bowls at 140-plus kph and bats with power in the lower middle order. His IPL experience is limited, three matches for CSK in IPL 2025 with modest returns, but his profile matters more than his numbers so far. CSK have built their identity around "BatDeep," the philosophy that their number eight should still be able to clear boundaries. Overton's hitting ability at number seven or eight, combined with four overs of genuine pace, extends the batting lineup in ways that a specialist bowler like Matt Henry cannot. Henry, Overton's primary competitor for this slot, offers superior new-ball skill and swing. If Ellis recovers full fitness, Henry's case strengthens since CSK would then have two specialist seamers. But in the likely scenario where Ellis misses matches, Overton's dual contribution makes him the safer pick for a squad that already has Khaleel Ahmed and Mukesh Choudhary sharing the seam workload.   2: Dewald Brevis Dewald Brevis arrived at CSK in IPL 2025 as a replacement signing at INR 2.2 crore after going unsold in the auction. He left as the franchise's most exciting batter. In six innings for CSK, the 22-year-old scored 225 runs at an average of 37.50 and a strike rate of 180.00. His 94 off 48 balls against RCB showed what "Baby AB" looks like when he has a settled role: 17 sixes across the stint, the second-most by any CSK batter that season. Since March 2024, Brevis has scored 1,708 runs in 63 T20 innings at an average of 32.96 and a strike rate of 165.58 across leagues worldwide, per ESPNcricinfo. In August 2025, he broke Faf du Plessis's record for the highest individual T20I score by a South African, smashing an unbeaten 125 off 56 balls against Australia. He is 22 years old. CSK's batting order benefits from Brevis at number four or five, where his 360-degree stroke play disrupts bowling plans in ways that the more conventional Dube and Sarfaraz cannot. With Ruturaj and Samson anchoring the top three, Brevis provides the acceleration phase that IPL 2025's CSK lineup lacked. 1: Noor Ahmad   Noor Ahmad, the Afghan left-arm wrist spinner took 24 wickets for CSK in IPL 2025, leading the Purple Cap race for a stretch. His figures of 4 for 18 against Mumbai Indians showcased a skill set that CSK's domestic spinners cannot replicate: genuine turn both ways, delivered with a quick arm from a low trajectory. At one point during the season, Noor had five more wickets than Ashwin and Jadeja combined.   Noor's franchise circuit experience is vast for a 20-year-old. He has played in the IPL, BBL, CPL, PSL, SA20, The Hundred, and ILT20. That exposure translates to maturity under pressure that belies his age. His bowling speed, faster than most wristspinners, and his ability to extract turn on flat surfaces make him effective across conditions, including flat surfaces where other spinners struggle. CSK retained Noor at INR 10 crore for IPL 2026. The other three overseas slots can be debated. This one cannot. On surfaces at Chepauk that have assisted spin in recent seasons, Noor Ahmad is the first name on Fleming's overseas list and the bowler around whom CSK's 2026 campaign will be built.

5 Mind-boggling Facts About IPL You Didn't Know

The IPL has been running for 19 seasons. Most fans know Virat Kohli's run tally, Chris Gayle's six count, and which franchise has won the most titles. This list covers facts that sit just outside that standard knowledge: numbers and coincidences that are fully verified and almost impossible to believe. Here are 5 IPL facts you didn't know

1. RCB Hold Both the Highest and Lowest Total in IPL History — Set on the Exact Same Date, Four Years Apart On April 23, 2013, Royal Challengers Bangalore scored 263/5 against Pune Warriors India at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Chris Gayle made 175 off 66 balls*: 17 sixes, the fastest IPL century off 30 balls, the highest individual score in IPL history. RCB won by 130 runs. It was the most dominant batting performance the tournament had seen. On April 23, 2017, exactly four years later to the day, RCB were bowled out by Kolkata Knight Riders for 49 all out at Eden Gardens. Their innings lasted 9.4 overs. Not one batter reached double figures. It is the lowest total in IPL history. The highest team score in IPL history and the lowest team score in IPL history both belong to the same franchise, set on the same calendar date, four years apart. In 2013, Gayle hit Murali Kartik for a six off the very first ball of an over and never decelerated, finishing with 17 sixes, a record at the time for any IPL innings. In 2017, the fall of wickets in the scorecard looked like a data entry error: four wickets before the score moved past 10, with the innings over in under ten overs. The 263 was cricket as spectacle. The 49 was cricket as collapse. RCB own both ends of the spectrum.

2. One Leg-Spinner Won Three Consecutive IPL Titles With Three Different Teams Between 2016 and 2018, leg-spinner Karn Sharma won the IPL three years in a row. He did it for three different franchises.

• 2016: Sunrisers Hyderabad
• 2017: Mumbai Indians (bought for ₹3.2 crore)
• 2018: Chennai Super Kings (bought for ₹5 crore) SRH, MI, and CSK are three of the four most decorated franchises in IPL history. Karn Sharma played for all three at the peak of their respective title runs. No other player has won the IPL three consecutive times. No other player has won it with three different teams. The IPL auction system exists partly to prevent one franchise from accumulating talent indefinitely. It does not prevent one player from accumulating titles by moving between whoever wins. In the 2018 IPL Final, Karn took the wicket of Kane Williamson at a decisive moment, giving CSK the momentum they needed to close out the game. It was the third consecutive final he had been part of as a winner. CSK, MI, and SRH combined have won nine of the eighteen completed IPL seasons. For three of those nine, consecutively, the same man was in their squad.

3. The First Ball in IPL History Was Faced by a Man Who Confessed He "Didn't Know Where He Was Going to Get a Run From" April 18, 2008. M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. The first ball in Indian Premier League history was bowled by Zaheer Khan and faced by Brendon McCullum of Kolkata Knight Riders. By the time the innings ended, McCullum had scored 158* off 73 balls: 13 sixes, 10 fours, a strike rate of 216.44. KKR won by 140 runs. RCB were dismissed for 82 in reply. What McCullum said afterwards: "I was in no form whatsoever. I didn't know where I was going to get a run from." He later called the innings something that "completely transformed my life." The 158* was the highest score in IPL at that point and the opening statement of a new format, on the opening day it had ever been played. Every franchise, every selector, every batting coach in T20 cricket watched that game and recalibrated what a T20 innings could look like. McCullum delivered 13 sixes in 73 balls against a bowling attack that had no historical reference point for what was happening to them. McCullum's 158* remains the only century a KKR batsman has ever scored in the tournament. The player who defined the IPL's first evening did so in KKR colours. No KKR batter has reached three figures since.

4. Mukesh Ambani Paid $111.9 Million for Mumbai Indians in 2008. The Whole League Is Now Worth $18.5 Billion. At the inaugural IPL franchise auction in 2008, Mukesh Ambani paid $111.9 million for Mumbai Indians, the highest bid of the evening. MS Dhoni was signed by Chennai Super Kings for $1.5 million. The entire initial reserve price for all eight franchises combined was $400 million. By 2025, the IPL's total valuation stood at $18.5 billion. A new IPL franchise today would cost approximately $1.8–2.4 billion to acquire, 16 to 20 times what Ambani paid for the most expensive team in 2008. What makes the financial trajectory strange is that the on-field rewards have not kept pace. The champion's prize money in 2008 was ₹4.8 crore. By 2025 it had reached ₹20 crore, a 4x increase. The league's overall value grew 46x in the same period. Franchise equity, media rights, and sponsorship have vastly outpaced what the winning team takes home. The most expensive player at the 2025 mega auction was Rishabh Pant, acquired by Lucknow Super Giants for INR 27 crore, roughly 12 times the dollar-adjusted value of Dhoni's 2008 signing fee. The bidding war for Pant lasted 45 minutes and involved multiple franchises. By 2025, a single player cost more than two entire 2008 franchises combined.

5. Vaibhav Suryavanshi Scored the Fastest Fifty in IPL History. He Was Born in the Year the IPL Was Founded. Vaibhav Suryavanshi was born in 2010, the year after the IPL's second season. On March 30, 2026, playing for Rajasthan Royals against Chennai Super Kings at Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati, he scored the fastest fifty in IPL history: off 17 balls, tying the record held by Heinrich Klaasen of Sunrisers Hyderabad. He was 14 years old. CSK had posted 127. RR chased it in 12.1 overs. Suryavanshi came to the crease and attacked from ball one, pulling, driving, and flicking his way to 50 off 17 deliveries, the joint-fastest half-century the tournament has seen across 19 seasons. Brendon McCullum opened the IPL in 2008 with a 158*. Suryavanshi was not yet born. The league McCullum defined on its first evening now has a fastest-fifty record shared by a 14-year-old. McCullum's innings is described as transformative for T20 cricket. Suryavanshi's 17-ball fifty belongs to the same conversation, reached at an age when most cricketers are still playing school cricket. The youngest player in IPL history holds the joint record for the fastest fifty the tournament has seen.

Who is Abhinandan Singh? All you need to know about RCB debutant in IPL 2026

Six years ago, Abhinandan Singh was playing tennis-ball cricket in Pratapgarh, a mid-sized district in Uttar Pradesh with no history of producing IPL cricketers. On March 28, 2026, he walked out to bowl for the defending IPL champions against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. RCB paid ₹30 lakh for him, base price, the lowest in their XI. Background and Career Journey Abhinandan Singh, 28, is a right-arm medium-fast bowler from Pratapgarh, UP, nicknamed the "Pratapgarh Express" in domestic circuits. He transitioned to leather-ball cricket around 2020 after years in the tennis-ball game, a longer detour than most IPL debutants take. His route to RCB runs through an unusual stop. In 2024, he served as a net bowler for Kolkata Knight Riders during their title-winning IPL season, present in the camp of the franchise that lifted the trophy, bowling to their batters in practice, uncontracted and unsigned. He left without a deal. Months later, RCB picked him up at base price. The Stat That Got Him Selected In the 2024 UPT20 League for Lucknow Falcons, Abhinandan took (15 wickets in 10 games) at an average of 17.06 and a strike rate of 13.60. His best figures: (4/26 against Kanpur Superstars). Those numbers ranked him among the top five wicket-takers in the competition. But the number that put him in RCB's Match 1 XI was smaller: 2. He dismissed Virat Kohli in both of RCB's pre-season intra-squad practice matches in 2026. In the second game, an outswinger drew Kohli's edge. Back-to-back dismissals of India's most decorated batter. In practice, yes, but the kind of practice match RCB's selection panel was watching closely. Seasoned international pacers fail to dismiss Kohli with this regularity. Management handed Abhinandan the debut. What He Brings to RCB Josh Hazlewood is injured. Yash Dayal has been ruled out for the full season. Nuwan Thushara couldn't get an NOC. RCB's pace attack had a significant gap to fill, and Abhinandan was the choice to fill it, by circumstance and by merit. His bowling profile: outswing is the primary weapon and scrambled seam the secondary. He generates both-ways movement at a medium pace. In Bengaluru, where the Chinnaswamy surface offers early assistance to seamers before it flattens, that swing capability has tactical value. IPL Debut: Honest Assessment Figures on debut: (1/38 in 3 overs). Economy of 12.67. The wicket was Ishan Kishan, taken at a pressure moment when SRH were counter-attacking after losing early wickets. A 12.67 economy over 3 overs reflects the adjustment gap between the UPT20 League and IPL pace. He felt it. His ceiling, if the swing holds and the adjustment comes: an economy of 8–9 is achievable, which at ₹30 lakh would represent one of the better value finds in RCB's squad. His floor: if IPL powerplay batting proves too sharp for his pace, he becomes a rotation bowler who plays when the pitch helps and sits when it does not. RCB have 8–10 games ahead before they need to make that call. Abhinandan's 4/26 against Kanpur Superstars came from the same method he used to twice dismiss Kohli: full, swinging, and attacking the stumps. 2026 will answer whether that method holds at IPL pace and depth.

CricTracker partners with RVCJ Group to build 85 million strong sports content network

In a significant move within India’s digital media ecosystem, CricTracker has announced a strategic partnership with RVCJ Group to build a large-scale sports content network. The collaboration brings together viral storytelling and data-driven sports coverage to create one of the most influential sports content ecosystems globally, unlocking new possibilities across content creation, distribution, and brand engagement. The partnership unites two established leaders with over a decade of combined expertise in digital entertainment and cricket journalism, combining RVCJ's large-scale audience engagement and viral storytelling with CricTracker's credibility in sports coverage and analytics. Together, the two platforms command a combined audience of over 85 million followers across digital and social platforms, creating a powerful network for sports content distribution and brand collaborations. CricTracker brings a strong and highly engaged sports community with over 20.6 million followers across platforms and over 30 million monthly page views. The platform has also generated over 1.2 billion total content reach, 2.1 billion content views, and more than 105 million views on its video section during the recently concluded ICC T20 World Cup 2026, making it one of the most trusted destinations for cricket fans seeking real-time insights, analysis, and updates. Complementing this, RVCJ adds unmatched scale and distribution power with more than 65 million followers across its digital network, generating over 790 million interactions and more than 10 billion views in the last 90 days alone. This powerful combination of reach, engagement, and domain expertise positions the alliance among the most impactful digital sports content ecosystems globally. As India's digital sports audience continues to expand rapidly, the collaboration reflects a broader shift in the media landscape where entertainment-driven storytelling and niche editorial expertise are increasingly converging. By blending culturally relevant, shareable storytelling formats with credible, data-backed cricket coverage, the partnership aims to create engaging sports narratives tailored for today's digital-first audiences. Beyond content creation, the partnership will also unlock new opportunities for brands, creators, and athletes within India's rapidly evolving digital sports ecosystem. This includes integrated brand campaigns, sponsored storytelling, branded video collaborations, display and performance advertising solutions, as well as talent management and athlete-led influencer campaigns, creating a structured environment where content, creators, and brands connect seamlessly at scale. Sharing his thoughts on the partnership Syed Sujjad Pasha, CEO and Founder, CricTracker, said: “Our vision has always been to make cricket content more engaging, accessible, and impactful for fans across India. Partnering with RVCJ enables us to combine credible cricket journalism with powerful storytelling and wider digital reach. Together, we aim to redefine how sports content is consumed and monetized in the digital era.” Commenting on the collaboration, Shahid Javed Ansari, Director, RVCJ Group, said: “This collaboration with CricTracker is a natural extension of our vision to expand into sports content. By combining our storytelling capabilities with CricTracker’s domain expertise, we aim to create engaging and scalable sports narratives that resonate strongly with digital audiences and brands alike.” A. Aziz Khan, Director, RVCJ Group, added: “The sports content industry in India is evolving rapidly, and this partnership allows us to tap into one of the most passionate audience segments in the country. We see immense potential not only in content creation but also in building a strong commercial ecosystem around sports storytelling.”  With CricTracker's strong and loyal reader base and RVCJ's massive distribution network, the partnership significantly enhances the reach and impact of sports content across India. As digital consumption accelerates, collaborations like this highlight the future of media where content, community, and commerce converge to create scalable ecosystems. With joint initiatives set to roll out in the coming months, the CricTracker-RVCJ partnership is poised to set new benchmarks in global sports media, combining scale, credibility, and cultural relevance like never before.

'I get to live with the GOAT' - Serena Williams publicly praises husband Alex Ohanian

Former world No. 1 tennis athlete Serena Williams has heaped massive praises on her husband Alex Ohanian for being the kind of professional he is. The wise words from Serena came after she realized Alex's role in bringing in the money to women's sports across the world, with billions of dollars pumping in. She further remarked Alex as the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) in terms of engaging his venture capital to different aspect of sports, which has helped her to get an opportunity to be working with the best. Serena, who has won 23 singles grand slams in her career up until this, has further said that she, along with Alex, can help people invest their money really well, and generate handsome returns. “My husband, Alexis Ohanian is I think the best VC investor there is. To see what he's done, obviously, with creating Reddit has been just remarkable. But beyond that, what he has done for women's sport, he started a whole movement of billions and billions and billions of dollars of other people starting to invest because of what he did,” Williams said as quoted by Sportskeeda. “I get to live with the GOAT of investing for me to first hand see what it takes to be great on in that realm. It's priceless having an opportunity to work with the best, be the best. We'll create and help you understand and be really good as well,” she further added. Being married to the best teaches you a lot: Alex Ohanian Impressed and humbled by the great words of praises received, husband Alex also took to his social media platform to make people aware of how great of a person his wife herself is. Being married to the tennis pro has given him many valuable lessons, and she personifies what greatness actually looks like, he further reckoned. “When the GOAT calls you the GOAT… S says I’m the best investor — not for seeding ro, rippling, or flock — but for helping to kick off a movement to back women’s sports – truth is, being married to the best teaches you a lot about what greatness actually looks like” he wrote on his X handle.

'Never seen a more unprepared player in my life' - Coach Goran Ivanisevic left in disdain post Stefanos Tsitsipas shock Wimbledon exit

Former Tennis pro Goran Ivanisevic, who has coached legendary Novak Djokovic to nine grand slam titles, has been in a state of utter disbelief the way his new mentee Stefanos Tsitsipas has faced a disappointing exit from the Wimbledon 2025 in the opening round itself. The coach has forwarded some really harsh words to digest for the current World No. 26, and told that his fitness levels are scary, and someone who is as good of a player as he is, must fix these things to make a stellar comeback to the sport that has given him his all. He further told that the basics of an athlete playing at a professional level in tennis has a lot of simple things to follow and the 53-year-old wants Tsitsipas to also see within himself and assess whether he deserves to be out of the Top 10, given the skills and potential he has. “It’s simple and it’s not simple. I’ve talked to him a lot of times. If he solves some things outside of tennis, then he has a chance, and he’ll return to where he belongs, because he’s too good a player to be out of the top 10,” Ivanisevic told Sport Klub after his mentee's disappointing exit from the marquee event like Wimbledon. I am three times fitter than Tsitsipas: Ivanisevic The coach further added that there are things which are still under Tsitsipas' control, but he is too casual to be taking them into account. He further says that the  “He wants to, but he doesn’t do anything. All ‘I want, I want’, but I don’t see that progress... I was shocked, I have never seen a more unprepared player in my life. With this knee, I am three times more fit than him. I'm not sure what he was doing in the previous 12 months, but his current shape is very poor. This is really bad,” Ivanisevic further added.