Last week was a massive one in IPL 2026. It started with a bang for SRH, where unknown bowler Praful Hinge went on to create a bit of history after bagging three wickets in his first over, in his very first match vs RR. Then there was Priyansh Arya from PBKS, whose 90-odd took PBKS to 254 vs LSG, giving them a massive win; followed by KKR’s maiden win of the season, after some excellent bowling by Varun Chakravarthy, and some resilient batting by Rinku Singh.
All these performances, and more, were responsible for taking their respective teams to wins. On the flipside, there were a few failures too from the players, who, after shining last week, couldn’t repeat their feats again. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi went on to play two matches and could only score 46. Same with Sanju Samson, who too scored below 50, That caused the IPL 2026 Team of the Week to change.
IPL 2026 Team of the week
| S. NO | Player | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Priyansh Arya | PBKS |
| 2 | Shubman Gill | GT |
| 3 | Ishan Kishan | SRH |
| 4 | Shreyas Iyer | PBKS |
| 5 | Heinrich Klaasen | SRH |
| 6 | Rinku Singh | KKR |
| 7 | Sunil Narine | KKR |
| 8 | Bhuvneshwar Kumar | RCB |
| 9 | Praful Hinge | SRH |
| 10 | Prince Yadav | LSG |
| 11 | Varun Chakravarthy | KKR |
Priyansh Arya blows away Lucknow
- Priyansh Arya: M – 2, R – 108, AVG – 54, SR – 234.78
Before the PBKS vs LSG match on Sunday, opener Priyansh Arya was having a mediocre sort of an outing, where he would get starts, but not convert it into real big ones. But then in the last match, he came up with an innings of 93 from just 37 deliveries, smashing the daylights of the opposition. There was this one over in the innings — where him and Cooper Connolly hit Aiden Markram for 32 runs. So, he obviously deserves a spot in this XI.
- Shubman Gill: M – 1, R – 86, AVG – 86, SR – 172
People would argue, why Gill over Quinton de Kock, when he scored a ton for MI? The simple answer being, Gill’s innings came in a winning cause, and the Indian can play along the carpet, without taking much risks. In the match vs KKR, where the Ahmedabad pitch looked a bit sluggish, he had the highest SR from his team; forged partnerships with Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler, as GT only won with two balls to spare.
- Ishan Kishan: M – 2, R – 91, AVG – 45.5, SR – 202.22
Despite a duck vs CSK, Ishan makes it to this IPL weekly team. Against Rajasthan he scored a brilliant 91, which went a long way in taking SRH to 216 in the match. He alone batter the opposition out of the match, as Hyderabad secured a brilliant, one-sided 57-run victory.
Shreyas Iyer leads IPL Weekly XI
- Shreyas Iyer: M – 2, R – 71, AVG – 35.5, SR – 173.17
One can only wonder, why Iyer is still not a three-format player for India. Anyways, sticking to IPL, he has maintained an excellent record as a skipper for Punjab this year, not losing a single battle. Last week vs MI he scored 66 in just 35 deliveries, to chase down 196 in only the 17th over. Of course, he is also the skipper of this team.
- Heinrich Klaasen: M – 2, R – 99, AVG – 49.5, SR – 152.30
His consistency has to be admired. Even though, unlike previous years, the strike-rate has taken bit of hit, but Hyderabad has enough firepower to accelerate at any given stage. Against RR, he scored 40, and then followed it up with 59 vs CSK. Somehow, he is fast becoming the player, whose performances slip under the radar quite a bit. He is also the Orange cap holder with 283 runs overall.
- Rinku Singh: M – 3, R – 60, AVG – 30, SR – 125
KKR could still have been winless in the tournament, if not for Rinku. While chasing 156 vs RR, the side was in doldrums at 85/6 in the 14th over. The southpaw batter fought hard, along with Anukul Roy, to not only take Kolkata close, but also win the match. He struggled to score initially, but looked determined on the day, to end team’s woes.
- Sunil Narine: M – 3, W – 4, AVG – 18.75, ECO – 6.25
For all practical purposes, KKR won’t progress to the playoffs. But the machine that Narine is, he is not tuned to bowl badly at all. He might not be taking loads of wickets now, but he is mighty difficult to get away. Against CSK he returned with figures of 1/21. followed by 1/28 vs GT, and 2/26 vs RR.
The list holds surprises
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar: M – 2, W – 6, AVG – 8.83, ECO – 6.62
Bhuvi is one bowler who you have to adore. What motivation must he have at 36, to perform the way he does; he is not getting any younger, and isn’t a hopeful in the Indian team, but his numbers are impeccable. Against LSG and DC he was brilliant bagging three wickets each, in both. He was instrumental in getting Lucknow bundled out for 146, and was hands down the best bowler vs DC, in a match his side lost narrowly.
- Praful Hinge: M – 2, W – 5, AVG – 18.80, ECO – 11.75
Out of nowhere, he came up with a masterclass against RR, where he returned with figures of 4/34 in his first outing. In fact, in his very first over in the league, he went on to pick three wickets, a feat that no one has achieved in history. Yes, he was smashed around in the CSK encounter, but it is still early days for him, and will only learn from that outing.
- Prince Yadav: M – 2, W – 5, AVG – 11.40, ECO – 8.14
Out of Lucknow’s vast Indian pacers resources, Prince seems to have become the first-choice for Rishabh Pant. He bowls with speed, accuracy.. Interestingly, while all his mates were chasing the leather against PBKS, he was the most impressive with figures of 2/25. The next best bowler — Mohsin Khan had an economy of close to 11. The worst on the day was Markram at 32.
- Varun Chakravarthy: M – 3. W – 5, AVG – 14.80, ECO – 6.72
KKR’s win the other night, would not have been possible without VC. Rinku chased it down, sure, but it was the mystery spinner, who put brakes on the scoring rate, returning with figures of 3/14. He got rid of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for 46, Dhruv Jurel and Riyan Parag in quick succession, breaking the back of their batting line up. Such was his effect, that the team went from 63/0 in powerplay to — 124/5 in the 16th over. Also, there is a massive improvement in his bowling, after going wicketless for the first three matches.
Cricket
IPL 2026 Team of the Week (April 13 to 19): Priyansh topples Sooryavanshi for opener's role, Iyer to lead
