IPL 2026: A Season of Rising Stars and Thrilling Performances Gujarat Lions Shine Bright as Delhi Daredevils Show Remarkable Improvement
For years on end it was said that Suresh Raina was being protected by MS Dhoni, being one of his guys that always played if he did. This season has shown that Raina has come out of the shadow of his national skipper and the result has been fantastic to watch. Showing strong leadership on the field, making important fielding decisions. It is clear to see that Raina is an intelligent cricketer. Not saying that he will ever be India’s captain but its nice to see a guy proving people wrong.
His side on the field can only be an asset to his captaincy, having McCullum, Finch, Faulkner, Dwane Smith and Bravo in his side its hard to see a weakness in the batting or fielding. It will be very interesting to see if GL can continue the form throughout the rest of the tournament.
The other new boys Rising Pune Supergiants led by MS Dhoni, have struggled. It is a surprise to me that they have struggled so badly when we look through the team line up. Kevin Pietersen is a miss for them though.
The dark horses for me have to be Delhi, after a poor start they have come back really well. The batting is well marshalled by Quinten De Kock, who for me is only just behind Virat Kholi and Joe Root in terms of ability. Any team that has Andre Russell will be one of the favourites in a T20 competition. I think he has won every other big competition this year.
IPL in 2026: The league that begins before the first ball
It is Monday morning in the week that IPL 2026 begins, and a five-star hotel in Bengaluru has given over its ballrooms to cricket. Not to cricket meetings, not to dinners celebrating cricket – to cricket itself, or at least the version of it that exists before a ball is bowled. The rooms have been booked since the weekend. Inside each one: lights, a camera crew, a stylist, a director with a shot list, and IPL stars in full kit being told where to stand. The players move between ballrooms the way they rotate strike: quick and purposeful. A line or two of dialogue. A product held at a specific angle for a specific number of seconds. Then next door. Some of the A-list Indian stars will get through four shoots before the morning is done. And this is not a Bengaluru quirk; the same drill is playing out in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and other IPL cities too. Pre-season practice camp will happen in the evening.
Sit with that image for a moment, because it contains almost everything you need to know about where this league is. On Tuesday night, the valuations came in. USD 1.78 billion for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. USD 1.6 billion for Rajasthan Royals. Nobody blinked. If anything, there was mild disappointment that the two-billion mark hadn’t been breached. The men who built this thing did not rub their eyes in disbelief. They had expected it. That the extraordinary has simply become the baseline. That, more than any number, is what 19 years looks like.
India has been the centre of the cricketing universe for a while now, in every boardroom that matters, in every broadcast negotiation, in every ICC meeting where the future gets decided. The financial and commercial gravity shifted around the same time the IPL came around. The harder, less certain part of the promise was always something else: whether their cricket itself could match up to their boardroom might. It has.
