Steady, calm presence on the field. Not easy to lead a team with a bunch of firebrands and superstars.

Consistently good batsman, scores at a high rate once settled, and also shows up big with clutch performances when team is under the pump.

Deserves more credit than he has been getting over the past 2 seasons. 

Time for the second cup!  
 

Team

EE SALA CUP NAMDU ..

Now  meltdown has been started by tinpoint team like CSK , MI and other's. 

This thread is dedicated for only meltdown ..

GT still haven't won a tourney with this top heavy approach. The only title they won was when they had Pandya and Miller lower down the order. Since Pandya left along with Miller they haven't won anything. That's why better to have hitters lower down the order and batting depth till 8 or 9. This approach may not guarantee the title but I've yet to see a top order heavy team win any tournament. It's always the batting depth which wins tourneys.

The wait is over! The Indian Premier League returns for its 19th season. With Royal Challengers Bengaluru entering as defending champions for the first time in history, the stakes have never been higher

Start Date: March 28, 2026

Opening Match: RCB vs SRH (@ M. Chinnaswamy Stadium)

Defending Champions: Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)

And glad they won and not an anti-T20 team like GT who's top heavy with consolidators at the top and no batting depth where Sundar bats at 4! 

RCB had all the roles covered...

PP bowling - Bhuvi and Hazlewood

Middle overs bowling - Rasikh (very impressive), Duffy

All rounder - Krunal playing the Axar type of role

Top order batting - Kohli along with an aggressor and Padikkal

Middle overs batting - Patidar, Krunal

Death batting - Tim David

Impact Player - Venky Iyer who was used correctly instead of the way KKR wasted him at 5 or 6

The only gap was a genuine spinner but thankfully they moved away from a liability like Chahal. Overall a pretty solid team with no major gaps and deserved winners

Both teams have their strengths and weaknesses, but have generally been the two best teams of the season. Now it is a matter of which one shows up stronger on the day. 
 

All the best to both the teams! 
 

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@Austin 3:!6 @Lord @Mariyam pin this

We, the spoilt lot, are getting to watch Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in the streaming age, with riveting episodes dropping two-three times a week. We won't need to tell stories of him to the next generation, we could just show them the faces of Pat Cummins or Mitchell Starc after having tried everything against this boy less than half their age without success. There is no breather, no sighter, just six-hitting of the highest quality that has given him, at 15, arguably the greatest season anyone has ever had in the IPL: 680 (most runs), 242.85 (highest strike rate), 65 (most sixes in any season).

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/how-lucky-are-we-to-live-in-the-age-of-sooryavanshi-1538560

Rajat Patidar transformed IPL 2026 with 501 runs and exceptional captaincy, generating a profit of ₹38.34 crore for RCB.

Updated on: Jun 01, 2026 9:55 AM IST

Rajat Patidar's IPL 2026 was not simply a batting season. It was a franchise-control season.

                                                                 Rajat Patidar after winning IPL 2026. (AFP)

 

Royal Challengers Bengaluru did not merely extract 501 runs from their captain. They extracted middle-order acceleration, tactical authority, playoff composure, and one of the most efficient auction returns the tournament produced. At a season cost of ₹11 crore, Patidar generated a modelled value of ₹49.34 crore, resulting in a total profit of ₹38.34 crore. No player in the tournament's monetary profit-loss ledger finished above him.

 

What makes that number arresting is the structure beneath it. His player-performance value stood at ₹21.28 crore, yielding a profit of ₹13.03 crore. His captaincy value surpassed even that: ₹28.06 crore, with a leadership profit of ₹25.31 crore. That is the real architecture of his season. The batting generated the headlines. The captaincy generated the hidden surplus.

 

The batter who changed phases

Rajat Patidar's 501 runs arrived at a strike rate of 192.69. His 30 fours and 42 sixes make clear that this was not a season built on soft accumulation; it was built on phase-breaking force.

 

His Powerplay numbers were measured: 37 off 43 balls at 86.05. That was never where he intended to win matches. Patidar's real value ignited after the field spread. Between overs 7 and 11, he made 152 off 80 at 190.00. Between overs 12 and 16, he went harder still - 234 off 108 at 216.67. At the death, 78 off 28 at 278.57.

 

That pattern carries weight. Most middle-order batters either consolidate or finish. Patidar did both, but with a ferocity that kept RCB moving through the innings' most dangerous passages. He did not wait for the final two overs to justify his place in the order. Overs 12 to 16 were his launchpad, and he treated them accordingly.

 

His wagon wheel told the same story. Mid-wicket was his most productive zone - 136 runs off 52 balls at 261.54. Long-off returned 81 off 35 at 231.43. Cover yielded 65 off 31 at 209.68. That breadth made him exceptionally difficult to contain. Bowlers could not simply drag it wider and hope for the best. Full on off-stump, he drove. Into the body, he cleared mid-wicket. The margin for error was forensically thin.

 

Outside-off good length and outside-off short-of-length deliveries remained his more controllable zones. But full-pitched deliveries, full tosses, hittable bouncers, and anything drawn straight through the line became damage deliveries regardless of the plan.

The captaincy layer that changed everything

Patidar's leadership was the difference between a profitable individual season and a tournament-defining one.

 

He finished as the top-ranked captain in our impact model, with a captaincy score of 798.3 and an average captaincy rating of 7.13 across 15 matches. The season had its stress fractures - Match 26,

 

Match 42, Match 50, and Match 67 pulled the leadership graph down. But that is precisely what lends the final reading its credibility. This was not a pristine, frictionless campaign. It was a captaincy season with identifiable pressure points, followed by a decisive surge when the stakes demanded it most.

 

Match 39 crystallised the argument. Patidar did not bat, yet RCB won by nine wickets, and his captaincy rating was 10. The monetary model credited him with a value of ₹3.60 crore and a profit of ₹2.81 crore.

 

That single match separates captaincy value from batting value with unusual clarity. Patidar was not only useful when he scored. He was useful when RCB controlled a match without needing him at the crease at all.

 

The playoffs sharpened that argument to a point.

 

In Qualifier 1, he delivered the complete captain-batter performance: 93 not out off 33 balls, no dots, 14 boundaries, a strike rate of 281.82. The model valued the match at ₹11.75 crore, with ₹11.01 crore in profit. His player-performance worth was ₹5.27 crore. His captaincy worth was higher still - ₹6.48 crore.

 

That innings was not merely acceleration. It was command. Patidar did not play a high-impact knock and then watch the outcome resolve. He controlled the match's emotional temperature from the first ball he faced. By the end, RCB's efforts no longer resembled a pursuit. It resembled paperwork.

 

The final offered a different kind of proof. Patidar made only 15 off 13, yet his captaincy rating was 10.

 

The model credited him with ₹4.01 crore of total worth and ₹3.27 crore in profit. That is the other face of genuine leadership value: in the most consequential match of the season, he did not need to be the main batting act to remain central to the outcome.

Also Read: INR 83.53 crore profit, one trophy, 9 heroes: How RCB built their most complete IPL season

The ₹38.34 crore verdict

Patidar's season resolves into three distinct layers.

 

As a batter, he delivered 501 runs at 192.69 - 42 sixes, elite middle-over destruction, and a scoring pattern built to break innings phases rather than simply fill them. As a captain, he finished first in the model's leadership table and produced his most significant tactical returns precisely when the tournament's pressure was highest. As a market asset, he converted an ₹11 crore investment into ₹49.34 crore of modelled value.

 

That is the complete story. Patidar was not merely RCB's captain. He was their batting accelerator, their tactical anchor, their playoff force, and their single largest profit centre.

RCB did not purchase one role for ₹11 crore. They got four.

Prasidh Krishna

Kartik Tyagi

Avesh Khan

Navdeep Saini

Shivam Mavi

Kamlesh Nagarkoti

Akash Singh

Would be nice if a new pacer, not known to us, performs well and bowls quick among Indians.

they have the old Indian formula of strong and conventional top 3 that chases down modest totals after a good bowling performance. 
 

not too many exciting talents but just cut for role journeyman mostly.

I am impressed with the safe and conventional boring approach but as a viewer the team is an eyesore. Not too say, average fielding side as well.

however feel they have shown boring is the way to go some times to achieve greater goals. 

Angkrish Raghuvanshi (2022) - was very good

Arshin Kulkarni (2024) -  way way underdeveloped

Akash singh (2020) -  okayish

Sushant Mishra (2020)  -  Has tools need some work with a bowling coach

Raj bawa(2022)  - Can't blame him he will be remembered as a guy who conceded 6 to Bhuvaneswar after 10 years.Needs to put on weight. He looks like tiny version of Rishi dhawan

What happened to Dinesh Bana? I thik GT could have gambled with some youngsters. For instance ABhigyan Kundu who played with Vaibhav, Mhatre scored some clutch runs for under-19 team ODi, Tests, T20.

These are some of his school level record. Has over 97 centuries , 28000 runs. Staggering volume of cricket at that level. He is not far away from Mhatre. This guy was not even short listed for some reason. Wonder if he even went to trial. I see a lot of potential there.

457* of 191 balls
408* of 145 balls
356* of 153 balls
320* of 94 balls

Krunal is what BCCI and selectors think Sundar is. Krunal is the perfect replacement for Axar in the short term for next 2 years or so. End this fascination with Sundar who's not gonna win you anything and go with Krunal if you need a spin all-rounder or backup for Axar. Krunal will win you tourneys, not Sundar.

VIRAT kohli 

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 

Ishan Kishan (w/k)

Rajat Patidar (captain)

Heinrich Klaasen 

Nitish Kumar Reddy

Krunal Pandya 

Archer

Sunil Narine

Bhuvneshwar Kumar 

Kagiso Rabada

Impact player - Jason Holder. 

MINIMUM 20 overs.   Bumrah    MI dominates

In the last four years, they have not added any of the aforementioned young hitters to their squad but only strengthened their bowling.

8 bowling options 

Glenn Phillips on the bench 

Drop Holder (do they need him with Prasidh, Siraj and Rabada?), Nishant and get in Phillips and Kushagra (decent young player who had a good SMAT for Jharkhand, and he can keep) and their 11 looks so much better 

Very lucky their openers are in such form, but it also means they need to be careful about getting out too early 

Many times, a large portion of the budget is spent on a handful of players so the rest of the spots are filled based on scouting low salary players, hoping for them to click. 
 

Take SRH for example where it likely spent a lot on Abhishek, Head, Kishan, Klassen, and Cummins. While the batting appears good, the bowling is relatively undermined.
 

And unlike national teams, it cannot add impactful depth to its batting due to auction dynamics. National teams can bring in all rounders like Axar, Hardik, etc, but in IPL, these all rounders would go at a premium too to be premium picks of a different team. 
 

While these hack teams may perform well against relatively underperforming teams and/or teams with a relatively poor bowling attack in the league stage, they are potentially vulnerable when they meet in form teams in playoff where they can get exposed under pressure against good bowling attacks. They lack the relative depth that top tier national teams like England (or India through Axar, Hardik, etc.) would enjoy. 
 

To build both batting and bowling depth, an IPL team would ideally need to invest in all rounders. Impact player rule helps but many times a player coming in as an impact player is not even a top domestic player.  
 

Discuss! 
 

Head and Kohli were involved in a heated verbal exchange during Kohli’s innings of 15 off 11 balls, although it remains unclear what sparked the altercation. Later, Kohli refused to shake hands with Head after the game. The Australian batter did stretch out his hand, but Kohli, after greeting Pat Cummins and Abhishek Sharma, walked past him without acknowledging the gesture.

Following the incident, sections of social media targeted Head and his wife with abusive messages, many of them directed at their wedding photo from three years ago. While some dragged their family into the hate messages, others openly threatened Head and his loved ones.

And if selectors have any vision, balls or common sense, get him in the ODI WC team instead of Rohit. He can play the enforcer role at the top and also give us a right-left combo as Gill isn't going anywhere.

 fans gather.

I don't see anyone stopping us now this IPL. We've found our rhythm. Bumrah took a 5er. The entire batting line up clicked. Even HaPa hit a few 6s.

We've peaked at the right time.

@Stan AFwas right all along. We just needed one good game to get back into our groove.

We're back.

I know I run the risk of being trolled re:this thread if  don't do well. Kind of like @punjabi_khota's legendary thread.

But We are so winning this IPL.

Best Batsman: 

Best Bowler - Pace:

Best Bowler - Spin: 

Best Fielder: 

Best Overall Player: 

Bonus Best Undercover Player (playing for the opposition): 

inducing batting  

RR- apart from Jai- Surya + Archer, horrible team running on a couple of superstar. They don’t deserve to win  

SRH- most exciting batting line up but filled with hacks susceptible against good bowling + a line up of who’s who of hacks +’darters + trundlers  

so my vote for - great batting line up with a couple of hacks but most effective trundlers + darters. Just like good terrorists bad terrorists, they have great trundlers and extremely effective darters.

So going with RCB. Blasphemy if another team wins it. Make sure no stampede when celebrating  

cricket acumen has called it

2. Arshin Kulkarni

3. SKY (capt)

4. Pooran

5. Hetmyer

6. Jitesh Sharma (wk)

7. Hardik Pandya

8. Marco Jansen

9. Kuldeep Yadav

10. Avesh Khan

11. Mukesh Kumar

Rules:

Keep max 4 foreign players. 

Have players batting at their regular batting position and good mix of bowlers and batsmen. 

Prabh (wk)

Mhatre

Sindhu/Kartik

Suryansh

Salil

Ashutosh

Madhav

Brijesh

Sakib

Shivang

====

It's that time of the year!!! 

With the playoffs close to completion, it is time to pick the most worthless player of IPL 2025. This will be our 15th consecutive year for this thread theme. 

Here are winners from prior years:

2025: Rishabh Pant

2024: Hardik Pandya

2023: Deepak Hooda

2022: Rohit Sharma

2021: Nicholas Pooran

2020: MS Dhoni

2019: Yusuf Pathan

2018: Glen Maxwell

2017: Shane Watson

2016: David Miller

2015: Yuvraj Singh

2014: Chris Gayle

2013: Kumara Sangakkara

2012: Yusuf Pathan

*REMEMBER*

The most worthless player is a player who is earning big bucks, but performing miserably poorly. The more the bucks and the poorer the performance, the more worthless they are.

P.S. If you think that I missed someone, let me know and I will evaluate and determine if we need to add them to the poll.

Sa

Save the dates

Less go

Hero to ENTERTAIN

Calling fellow fans @Gollum @Lone Wolf @vice @punjabi_khota and many more closet fans

some born out of necessity like lack of fast bowlers, spinners, allrounders, power hitters etc.

However I just don’t get it. What’s the deal about this talent? Why is he getting so much backing?

C’mon!!! time to give him go. I think he  will do well. He even skipped his honeymoon for IPL, puts in the hard yards and definitely better than a lot of other trundlers on display.

justice for Arjun Tendulkar.

Which are your top 4 teams to make it to the playoffs at the moment? 

All he had to do was bowl a half-decent over, not even a miracle. But couldn't land even one delivery where it needed to be. Lost the match when opponents were 7 wkts down and he gave freebies to likes of Shami and Himmat Singh! Imagine him against proper hitters at intl level. People may see "potential" in him which they've been seeing since ages. But to me he's useless and adds no value. We've plenty of options like Mohsin, Vaibhav, Prince, Ashok Sharma etc. He can't nail a yorker and bowls juicy high full tosses or length deliveries. He has nothing else. Time to end this hype as trundlers like Khaleel are actually better than him. And it's not as if he's bowling fast like Archer and even likes of Shami can hit him around.

Yuzi  from PKBS

Gaikward from CSK

Rashid from GT

Pandya from MI

So many bad contracts.