No total is now safe in the Indian Premier League (IPL). In the opening match of the current season, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) achieved the target of 202 runs against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) with 26 balls remaining. The next day i.e. in the second match of the season, Mumbai Indians (MI) completed the chase of 221 runs against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in just 19.1 overs. These two matches told what is going to happen in the season ahead.
Last Saturday (April 25) it became too much. In the first match of the double header, Punjab Kings (PBKS) crossed the target of 265 runs against Delhi Capitals (DC) in just 18.5 overs, which became a new record for the most successful run chase not only in IPL but also in T20 history. Shortly after this, SRH achieved the target of 229 runs against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Jaipur with 9 balls remaining.
If we talk about the last two matches (till April 29) in IPL 2026, the trend of achieving big run chases easily continues. On Tuesday, RR achieved the target of 223 runs against PBKS in 19.2 overs, while on Wednesday, SRH achieved the big chase of 244 runs against MI in just 18.4 overs.
Also read: Mumbai Indians lost due to bad bowling, why did Pandya captivate the audience?
Big runs are being chased but where are the exciting matches?
So far in IPL 2026, the target of 200 or more runs has been achieved 10 times, which is the record for most 200 plus chases in a single season. However, it is surprising that none of these matches went till the last ball. Leave the last ball, no 200 plus run chase has gone beyond 19.2 overs. This trend was also seen last season, when 200 plus chases were executed 9 times but none of the chases went beyond 19.3 overs.
There was a time when 200 plus total was considered safe in IPL. Even if a team came close to the target, there was a fight till the last ball, but in the last two seasons, every 200 plus chase has been completed in 19.3 overs or earlier.
Also read: IPL 2026: Flop in batting, Duboi Lutia in fielding too; Fans angry at Naman Dheer
Achieving 200 plus target became a left handed game
From the beginning of IPL till 2022 i.e. in the first 15 editions, 200 plus targets were chased only 15 times. But since the introduction of the Impact Player rule in 2023, the target of 200 or more runs has been successfully achieved 33 times in the last 4 editions.
Comments are closed.