Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: The new season of the Indian Premier League is in full swing. All ten teams have played one match each after five days of action. IPL 2026 began with high-scoring affairs, with the first two games over the weekend producing 200-plus totals, but it took a sharp turn in the next three games this week — all of them low to modest totals.One trend emerging from these five games is that, irrespective of totals — low, modest, or high — chasing teams have come out triumphant. It will be interesting to see if this continues through the tournament. If so, the toss could become increasingly crucial for every team.
So far, all five matches have been played under lights. However, day games are limited, with each team scheduled to play just two, where the dew factor won’t be a factor and the chasing advantage may reduce.The pattern is worrying for bowlers. Except for Punjab Kings vs Gujarat Titans, which went down to the wire, the rest have been largely one-sided chases. Even on Wednesday, when Delhi Capitals were reduced to 26/4 inside the Powerplay by Lucknow Super Giants while chasing 141, a partnership between Sameer Rizvi and Tristan Stubbs sealed the game with 17 balls to spare.Close chases add excitement, but one-sided pursuits tend to dull the contest for fans.Let’s delve deeper into IPL 2026 trends so far:Game 1: RCB beat SRH by six wicketsDefending champions RCB hosted SRH at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in the IPL 2026 opener. After being put in, SRH recovered from 29/3 through Ishan Kishan (80 off 38) and Heinrich Klaasen (31), with Aniket Verma’s 43 pushing them to 201/9. In reply, despite an early setback, Virat Kohli (69 off 38) and Devdutt Padikkal (61 off 26) stitched a 101-run stand as RCB chased it down in just 15.3 overs.Game 2: MI beat KKR by six wicketsKKR posted 220/4 riding on Ajinkya Rahane’s 67 and Angkrish Raghuvanshi’s 51. But MI openers Rohit Sharma (78) and Ryan Rickelton (81) added 148 in 12 overs, making the chase straightforward as they got home with five balls to spare.Game 3: RR beat CSK by eight wicketsIn Guwahati, RR bowlers Jofra Archer and Nandre Burger dismantled CSK for 127. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi then smashed a stunning 52 off 17 balls, adding 75 with Yashasvi Jaiswal, as RR chased the target in just 12.1 overs.Game 4: PBKS beat GT by three wicketsGT managed 162/6 with contributions across the order. PBKS looked comfortable at 110/2 before a collapse to 118/6, triggered by Prasidh Krishna. However, Cooper Connolly’s unbeaten 72 ensured a tense win in the final over.Game 5: DC beat LSG by six wicketsLSG were bowled out for 141, with Lungi Ngidi and T Natarajan starring. DC slipped to 26/4, but Sameer Rizvi (70) and Tristan Stubbs (39) added an unbeaten 119-run stand to seal victory in 17.1 overs.Early signs suggest chasing is king in IPL 2026 — but the bigger question is, will it last?
