April 25 and April 26 were quite literally polar opposite days in the Indian Premier League (IPL 2026). On Saturday, 4 teams registered an aggregate of 986 runs across 2 games, falling just 14 runs short of breaching the 1000-run mark. Well, it turned out to be literally the opposite on Sunday, with both the matches turning out to be a menace for batters, thanks to the nature of the surface at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai and the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow.
On Saturday, apart from the fact that the pitches at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi and the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur were meant for a run-fest, poor fielding was one of the major reasons why all four teams managed to score over 220 runs. On Sunday, all four teams struggled to keep the scoreboard ticking because of the tough pitches, and when some of the teams did manage to get going at certain points, it was due to tactical blunders of captains coupled with some sloppy fielding as well.
While a boundary was scored off every three balls on Saturday, the Sunday double-header saw a combined strike rate of just 136. Just one boundary off an over on average on Sunday. That’s a massive drop from the previous day.
986-run day followed by 630-day reveals contrasting pictures in IPL
On Sunday, the game between CSK and GT saw an aggregate score of just 320 runs being recorded. In the next game between LSG and KKR, the combined score of both teams came up to 310 runs. Overall, 630 runs were scored between the four teams in the doubleheader on April 26. The second game went into a Super Over, that also turned out to be the lowest-scoring Super Over in IPL history, with LSG scoring just a run against Sunil Narine’s masterclass.
Well, there were similarities between the games. For starters, both teams batting first struggled for almost 15 overs before finally flipping the switch and posting a face-saving total at the end of the innings. CSK managed to reach 28/3 at the end of the powerplay, the third lowest in IPL 2026, and then reached only 43/4 in 10 overs.
For the next 5 overs, they took it quite slow, and at one point it didn’t look like they would surpass 130 runs. But then, the switch was flipped in the 15th over by Ruturaj Gaikwad and cameos from Jamie Overton and Kartik Sharma. As a result, they managed to reach 158 runs at the end of 20 overs.
Similarly, in the game between KKR and LSG, the former managed to reach just 31/3 in 6 overs and then 64/4 in 10 overs. While they continued to lose wickets in the middle-overs, it was Rinku Singh’s aggressive 81-run knock that powered KKR to 155/7. The team added 91 runs in the last 10 overs.
Bowlers’ day out, partly
If Saturday was a day to remember for batters, then Sunday was the bowlers’ day out, especially for those who bowled in the 1st innings. It wasn’t quite the case for those who bowled in the 2nd innings. In the CSK vs GT match, 3 wickets fell in the powerplay, with Rabada bagging 2 and Siraj 1.
Between overs 7-10, Manav Suthar picked up one wicket while 3 wickets fell in the death overs. In response, CSK only managed to get 2 wickets – one which came in the 6th over and the other in the 16th.
Similarly, in the LSG vs KKR match, the visitors lost 3 wickets in the powerplay. 4 wickets were then lost in the middle-overs. Moshin Khan picked up his maiden five-wicket haul in the IPL and ran through KKR’s top and middle-order with an outstanding spell of 5/23, which also happens to be the third best by an uncapped Indian in the league. In contrast, LSG lost just one wicket in the powerplay and went on to lose 3 more in the middle-overs.
In both cases, the pitch was unforgiving to the teams that were batting first (apart from poor batting standards) while it eased out during the 2nd innings, helping the batters to play with more ease while making lives tougher for the bowlers.
