The 2026 season wrapped up in May with Royal Challengers Bengaluru successfully defending their maiden title. Here's the final scorecard, the season's headline numbers, and how the franchises are already reshaping their squads.
Josh Hazlewood struck early, Bhuvneshwar Kumar reclaimed the Purple Cap race with two wickets, and Rasikh Salam capped his best IPL season with three more to restrict Gujarat Titans to 155/8. Chasing under lights, Virat Kohli anchored the innings with a 42-ball 75 not out — his fastest IPL half-century, reached in 25 balls — to make RCB only the third franchise, after Chennai Super Kings (2010-11) and Mumbai Indians (2019-20), to defend the title.
CSK released Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran in trades to Rajasthan Royals while retaining MS Dhoni, Ruturaj Gaikwad and newly-traded-in Sanju Samson.
TradesThe Rajasthan Royals captain's move to Chennai became the biggest talking point ahead of the November retention deadline.
AuctionThe 2026 mini-auction was held on December 16 at Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi, with 77 slots open across all ten franchises.
Season DatesThe 19th edition featured 10 teams across 74 matches and 13 venues before RCB completed their title defence.
Punjab KingsThe franchise retained Arshdeep Singh, Marco Jansen and Marcus Stoinis as the core of their 2027 rebuild.
Free AgentsSeveral former IPL stalwarts registered for a possible comeback after going unretained across the league.