Record runs, record sixes, modest finals: IPL 2026’s Biggest Controversy Explained

RCB players celebrate with the trophy. (Photo credit: IPL) The IPL 2026 season was at its absolute peak.A record 27,450 runs were scored during the season – the most in IPL history. The teams posted a staggering 9.88 run rate, another all-time high. 1,426 sixes were hit, surpassing the previous record of 1,294 achieved just a year earlier in 2025.That was also a 200-plus score season. As many as 65 innings crossed the 200-run mark. The chase became almost routine. This season alone, teams have successfully caught more than 220 targets nine times; before 2026, it had only happened five times in the previous 18 editions combined. A total of 18 points of 200 or more have been scored this season – exactly double the number in 2025.According to these numbers, the final should be a run.Instead, it was anything but.Gujarat Titans huffed and puffed their way to 155/8. Royal Challengers Bengaluru chased it down comfortably to retain the IPL title. It was drama because of the opportunity, but not because of the goal.And it wasn’t the first time.Cast your mind back to 2024. This season was defined by the batting revolution of Sunrisers Hyderabad. Records were broken almost every week as results previously thought impossible became commonplace. Yet when the final came, SRH were bowled out for 113 – the lowest total in the history of an IPL final and Kolkata Knight Riders raced to the target in just 10.3 overs.Or take the 2022 final in Ahmedabad. Rajasthan Royals managed only 130/9 before Gujarat Titans cruised home with seven wickets in hand.Which raises an interesting question.Are IPL finals generally low scoring? Do they not reflect the batting trends that define the league stage?At first glance, the answer is clear.For years it has been recognized that title-deciding pressure stifles scoring. Bigger nerves. Higher stakes. More careful batting. Tired pitches at the end of a long tournament.But is it really true? TOI Data Desk’s analysis of all 19 IPL finals between 2008 and 2026 suggests that the answer is more complicated than conventional wisdom would have us believe.In fact, the numbers are the exact opposite of what most fans would expect.In fact, in all 19 IPL finals, the average final has produced more runs than the average match in the corresponding season.Here’s the kicker: 10 finals scored above the season average, while nine finished below it.On average, IPL finals have scored 5.7 runs more than the season average and 5.1 runs more than the all-time scoring average at the venue.In other words, looking across the entire history of the tournament, this popular impression doesn’t really hold up. However, our memories are selective.Low-scoring finals tend to stick together. Finals 2024. Finals 2022. Finals 2026. These matches lead us to believe that finals are ugly affairs. But at the other end of the spectrum sits the IPL final, which delivered run-fests. The final between RCB and SRH in 2016 produced a total of 408 runs, which saw RCB fall nine runs short of the target of 209 runs. The 2014 final generated 399 runs (PBKS 199/7, KKR 200/7). Umpire 2012 delivered 382 (190/3 CSK, 192/5 KKR).All three were among the highest scoring games of their respective seasons.So IPL finals are not inherently defensive contests. They simply produce a wider range of results than fans usually remember.That said, there is one trend worth paying attention to. When the focus shifts to modern times, the picture changes slightly.Since 2018, IPL finals have averaged about 20 runs below the season’s scoring rate. Now, the sample size remains small – just nine finals. But five of those nine finals finished below the season average and the four biggest underperforming finals in IPL history belong to this period.The biggest deviation remains the 2024 finals, which finished 139 runs below the season average. It is followed by 2022, 2017 and now 2026.This does not prove that IPL finals are getting low scoring. But it does suggest that modern finals may trend lower than the league matches around them.Why can this happen?One of the reasons could have been the quality of the bowling attacks. By the time the finals arrive, only the strongest and most balanced teams remain.Preparation has also become more sophisticated. Teams enter the finals armed with detailed match data, opposition schedules and weeks of analysis. Then there is the pressure of the opportunity itself. In a league game, the collapse of the top order can be brushed aside and there is always another game around the corner. In the finals, one bad over or one bad shot can end a season’s hard work. That alone can make teams a little more cautious than usual.Even a slight shift toward caution at the start of an innings can be enough to drop the scoring rate below the seasonal norm.And together they offer a reasonable explanation for why recent finals seem to deviate from the batting explosion seen during the league stages.The belief that IPL finals have always been low-scoring is largely a myth. Over 19 seasons, the finals have produced virtually the same scores as the competition itself – if anything, marginally higher.However, recent years tell a different story.From Sunrisers Hyderabad’s collapse to 113 in 2024 to Gujarat Titans’ 155 in the 2026 final, the title deciders seem increasingly to be moving away from the run-fests that define modern IPL batting.