Introduction When the IPL 2026 player trades were announced in December 2025, the one that stopped cricket India in its tracks was the departure of Ravindra Jadeja from Chennai Super Kings. Jadeja had been at CSK since 2012 — 13 seasons, 3 title wins, and hundreds of matches in the yellow shirt. He was as...
Introduction Few IPL transfers have generated as much conversation as the one that sent Sanju Samson from Rajasthan Royals to Chennai Super Kings ahead of IPL 2026. Samson had been the face of RR for years — he captained the franchise to the IPL final in 2022, won the T20 World Cup Player of the...
Introduction Sometime in 2019, the conventional wisdom in Indian cricket was that MS Dhoni’s batting was declining and his retirement was coming. That prediction has been made, with varying degrees of confidence, in every year since. In 2026, MS Dhoni is 44 years old and playing his 19th IPL season. He is the only active...
Introduction Rs. 27 crore. When Lucknow Super Giants placed the winning bid for Rishabh Pant at the IPL 2025 mega auction, they didn’t just set a record — they redefined what IPL franchise investment looks like. The most expensive player in the competition’s 18-year history. More than Hardik Pandya’s Rs. 15 crore. More than Stokes’s...
Introduction On December 16, 2025, at the IPL 2026 mini-auction in Abu Dhabi, Kolkata Knight Riders paid Rs. 25.20 crore for Australian all-rounder Cameron Green. It was the highest price ever paid for an overseas player in the IPL’s 18 years of auctions. Higher than Ben Stokes’s Rs. 14.5 crore in 2017. Higher than any...
Introduction Before IPL 2025, most cricket fans had never heard of Priyansh Arya. The Delhi-based right-handed opener had played domestic cricket without attracting major national attention. Then he arrived at the IPL 2025 auction and Punjab Kings bought him for Rs. 3.80 crore — a significant bet on an uncapped player. When he scored a...
Introduction On May 9, 2025, the Board of Control for Cricket in India announced that the Indian Premier League would be suspended. This was not due to weather. Not due to a COVID outbreak. Not due to administrative failure. The IPL was paused because India and Pakistan were in the midst of a serious geopolitical...
Introduction In 17 IPL seasons before 2025, Chennai Super Kings had never finished below 7th place. They had won 5 titles. They had reached 10 finals. They had qualified for the playoffs 14 times. They were, by any measure, the most consistent franchise in the competition’s history. Then came IPL 2025. CSK finished 10th —...
Introduction In the history of the Indian Premier League, no team has ever defended a total as low as 111. Until IPL 2025. Punjab Kings, having posted a modest 111 in their 20 overs — a total that most T20 analysts would call indefensible in a competition where 150 is considered par — bowled out...
Introduction Hat-tricks in T20 cricket are rare. Multiple hat-tricks in T20 cricket are almost mythological. Yuzvendra Chahal, leg-spinner and IPL’s all-time leading wicket-taker, joined an exclusive three-man club on April 30, 2025, when he took his second career IPL hat-trick — this time against Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk. The first had come against KKR...