IPL 2026 has so far been a season that has belonged to Indian batters. The run rate has touched a new high, and much of that has been because of uber-aggressive batters from India - both capped and uncapped - who have taken six-hitting and fearlessness to ridiculous heights.
In the first 38 matches this season, 13,100 runs have been scored at a strike rate of 154.17. Of those, the Indian batters have contributed 9066 runs at a strike rate of 158.86, while overseas batters have scored 4034 runs at 144.59. Both in terms of strike rate and percentage of runs, the overseas batters have been completely overshadowed.
Let's look at the percentage of runs first: so far this season, overseas batters have contributed only 30.79% of the bat runs, which means Indians have contributed 69.21%. That's the highest ever, slightly higher than the 66.25% achieved last year, and 65.25 in 2022. In the early years of IPL, that percentage stayed in the 50s, and even dipped to 47.51 in 2009.
While the increase in run contribution is significant, even that pales when compared to the way the strike rate numbers have changed. This year, Indian batters have scored at a rate of 158.86, which is 14.27 more than that strike rate for overseas batters. That's a seismic shift in scoring patterns: only twice in IPL's 19-year history have Indian batters scored quicker than overseas ones - way back in 2010 and 2011 - and even there the gap was marginal. In all other years, the overseas batters have scored quicker, though the gap had almost reduced to zero last year.
This huge shift has come about because of the depth and magnitude of Indian firepower, and a huge slump in form for some of the key overseas batters. Among the 24 batters who have scored 200 or more runs this season 19 are Indians, while the top 11 among these 24 in terms of strike rate are all Indians: Phil Salt is the first overseas batter at No.12, followed by Cooper Connolly at No. 13. Jos Buttler (No. 18), Heinrich Klaasen (No. 20) and Mitch Marsh (No. 24) are the other overseas batters who make the cut. The one overseas batter who deserves an honourable mention here is Tim David, who has been incredible for RCB, striking at 194.68. However, his aggregate of 183 means that he misses out due to the 200-run cut-off.
It's the first time that the top 10 list for strike rates has been monopolised by Indian batters (with a 200-run cut-off after 38 matches). The closest any season came to achieving this - with the same cut-offs - was way back in 2011, when eight of ten batters with the best strike rates were Indians. It's interesting that the highest strike rate then was 168.42, by Virender Sehwag; in 2026, 11 batters have a higher strike rate than that.
The lower overseas numbers are also a function of poor numbers for some key foreign players whose contributions have been way below expectations: Nicholas Pooran leads that metric with 82 runs in eight innings, while Shimron Hetmyer (61 in five), Glenn Phillips (67 in five), Finn Allen (81 in five), Tim Seifert (19 in three) have all had miserable tournaments so far. Travis Head and Aiden Markram are slightly better, but even they haven't touched 200 runs in eight innings, while striking at under 150. All these big names have been trumped by the exploits of the Indian batters.
Even among Indian batters, the focus this season has been on the uncapped players. They have contributed 2757 runs - the highest ever after 38 games in any IPL season - at a strike rate of 160.48, which is also the best for them at the same stage in any season. In fact, among the top 11 strike rates for players with 200-plus runs this year, four belong to the uncapped stars, including the top two slots, taken by Priyansh Arya (strike rate 249.01) and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (234.86). Apart from them, Prabhsimran Singh and Ayush Mhatre are also in the top 11.
The uncapped Indian batters have made fans and pundits sit up and take notice with substantial contributions this season: 11 times they have top-scored in the team innings by getting at least a half-century. That's the most instances ever after 38 games in an IPL season - the previous highest was only seven, in four other seasons.
Not surprisingly, the uncapped batters have also taken the Player-of-the-Match awards more often this season than ever before, with six such awards in the first 38 games: two each to Sameer Rizvi and Arya, and one each for Prabhsimran and Sooryavanshi. The previous best at the same stage in any season was five, in 2023 and 2024. (Player-of-the-Match awards for batting efforts defined as instances where the player batted, and bowled no more than two overs, taking no more than one wicket.)