New Delhi. The success of the Indian men’s team in white-ball cricket after the T20 World Cup 2022 is often attributed to the Indian Premier League (IPL). Fearless attitude, aggression and much more. Every season you see a new high-quality hitter emerging. Please note, the word ‘batter’ has not been used here and this has been done intentionally. In the last few years, many former cricketers have expressed concern about the declining batsmanship in the IPL. Today’s young batsmen only talk about how many sixes they can hit in a day. It is clearly visible how cricket, especially T20, has changed. This change had already started before the introduction of ‘Impact Player Rule’ in IPL 2023.
Indian batsmen were criticized not for the fact that they could not hit from the beginning, but for the fact that they did not do so. That means there was lack of intention. Now the situation is completely opposite, now only intention is intention. Since 2021, the run rate of IPL has increased from 8.05 to 9.88. To understand it in simple language, the average score of IPL in 2021 was 161, which increased to 197 in 2026. That means a big difference of 36 runs. In 2021, it took about 3.3 overs to score this many runs. This shows how big the change is but the real problem is the growing gap between IPL and other T20 cricket.
Benefit or harm from IPL?
Runs are being scored in leagues around the world, but nowhere is the pace like IPL. The average run rate in the entire T20 cricket in 2025 was 8.42, whereas in IPL it was 9.62. Keep in mind, this also includes matches played against weaker teams, yet IPL is far ahead of them. This difference continued in 2026 also. The run rate of all T20 matches was 8.55, while that of IPL was 9.88. Batting has become faster everywhere, but it cannot be compared with the world’s biggest cricket league. The question is – why so? There are many reasons for this. The biggest reason is the pitches, but the size of the field also plays an important role.
Joffra Archer’s ‘IPL bullies’ gesture
All these discussions started after India lost 0-2 against Ireland and 0-2 against England. India suffered its second lowest T20 score and biggest defeat during this period. Joffra Archer, who has been playing IPL since 2018, said that even 200 runs are not safe in IPL, whereas this is not the case in international cricket. Sometimes even 200 runs are not safe in IPL but here (in England) with the score of 200 we were confident that it would not be easy for the opposition to win. There is more scope for error in bowling here, whereas in IPL you have to be very precise due to small grounds and easy pitches. You can oppose the pitch argument and say that big scores were made in the T20 World Cup 2026 too but where was that tournament played? India has got the advantage of playing most of the matches in Asia since Gautam Gambhir became the coach in July 2024.
conflict outside the home
After defeating South Africa in 2024, which was also not a very strong team, India’s batsmen have been seen struggling overseas. The team could not play as a unit in Asia Cup 2025. Sometimes Shivam Dubey, sometimes Abhishek Sharma and sometimes Tilak Verma played the responsibility, but the 200-run mark was crossed only once in the entire tournament. After this, India went to Australia, where almost all the batsmen except Abhishek were seen struggling. In the three matches, the scores of the first innings were 125, 186 and 167. What happened in Ireland and England is in front of everyone. It is clear that when pitches suitable for batting are not available, many Indian batsmen get into trouble.
nothing for bowlers
It is not entirely their fault that the pitches in IPL are almost the same. Only Gujarat Titans prepares pitches for the bowlers. Spinners like Yuzvendra Chahal and Rashid Khan also do not get much help, whereas in England, Will Jacques is troubling you. The same mishits that become sixes in IPL become catches due to long boundaries in Ireland and England. There is a big difference between the bounce of some grounds in India and the pitches of England. There is swing and seam, you cannot play a shot by taking out your front foot on every ball.
Weakening the ‘Impact Player’ rule
There is no support for ‘Impact Player’ in IPL. You cannot think after scoring 10 runs in 3 balls that the next batsman will complete the job. Players like Tilak Verma are weak against spin, but in IPL they do not have to face much quality spin. Ishan Kishan often gets stuck on difficult pitches, he showed this in IPL 2026 and now in Ireland-England as well. Akshar Patel’s weakness against fast bowlers is clearly visible, yet he is promoted in the powerplay.
What failure to read the conditions?
After the defeat at Trent Bridge, Gautam Gambhir also admitted that the team failed to understand the conditions. The same mistake has been repeated in four matches, be it bad strategy, wrong selection or poor performance. The real need is to understand what will work on which pitch. You do not become a bad team by losing four matches, but if you do not understand the conditions, you will lose. It is important that you read the pitch and the match properly. Small things like wind direction, size of the field make a big difference in T20. Now the question is how quickly India learns from these mistakes and whether it is able to get out of the habits of IPL and adapt itself to international cricket.
