In an IPL season of several blockbuster batting and bowling performances, here is a look at the top six in each discipline, based on ESPNcricinfo's Impact Points. These points are awarded for each batting and bowling performance for a player in every match, taking into account match context in great detail: for each ball that a batter faces or a bowler bowls, context is determined by several factors, including current score, wickets in hand, asking rate, quality of batter/bowler, support available to the batter/bowler, and pitch conditions.
Each run scored or conceded gets a Smart Runs value, and each wicket taken gets a Smart Wicket value, based on the above factors. The innings impact points are a cumulative total of the ball-wise numbers. Here are the top batting and bowling performances in IPL 2026 based on these impact points.
Best batting performances
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi - 198.38 impact points
97 (29) vs SRH, New Chandigarh
In the eliminator in New Chandigarh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi fell agonisingly short of breaking Chris Gayle's record for the fastest IPL hundred, but his 29-ball 97 was easily the top batting performance of the tournament. It came in a high-pressure knockout game, and he completely bossed the Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers, hitting 12 sixes, four of them in eight balls against Pat Cummins. When he was dismissed, his opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal had scored 25 off 20 balls.
Tilak Varma - 178.73 impact points
101* (45) vs GT, Ahmedabad
Coming in to bat at 44 for 3 in the sixth over, Tilak Varma scored 101* off 45 - a strike rate of almost 225 - when the other batters in the team collectively scored just 50 off 40 when batting with him. Forget getting to the target of 200, Gujarat Titans couldn't even match Tilak's score, getting bundled out for 100.
Sanju Samson - 151.72 impact points
101* (54) vs MI, Mumbai
Another unbeaten 101 comes in next, but this time Mumbai Indians were at the receiving end, immediately after their game against GT. Sanju Samson almost single-handedly took CSK to a match-winning total of 207. The next highest score in the innings was 22, as Samson expertly guided the team despite losing wickets regularly at the other end. MI barely crept past Samson's score, getting bowled out for 104, making it the first instance in IPL history of a team winning and losing successive IPL matches by 90-plus runs.
Sanju Samson - 150.93 impact points
115* (56) vs DC, Chennai
A Samson special yet again, but this one came relatively early in the season, and helped dispel early doubts about his move to CSK. After three single-digit scores to start his tournament, Samson finally came into his own, helping CSK to their first win of the season. Much of his impact points came from his early dominance: in the powerplay, he scored 45 off 19, out of his team's score of 61.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi - 147.72 impact points
78 (26) vs RCB, Guwahati
Both the sub-100 innings in this list belong to Sooryavanshi, proving just how much impact he had on matches with his incredible rate of scoring. This one made light of a 202-run target, as Sooryavanshi's blitz powered RR to 129 after just 8.1 overs when he was dismissed. This was also his first battle against Josh Hazlewood, and a sequence of 4,4,4,6 emphatically settled that battle.
Mitchell Marsh - 138.35 impact points
111 (56) vs RCB, Lucknow
After a lacklustre first half of the season - 212 runs in eight innings at a strike rate of 133.3 - Mitchell Marsh's season lit up in the second leg, as he scored 351 runs in five innings at a strike rate of 188.7. This century was the highlight, as his knock consigned RCB to a rare defeat in a run-chase. Much of the impact points for Marsh in this innings came due to his early onslaught, as he put LSG on top despite a struggling opening partner: Arshin Kulkarni scored 17 off 24 in an opening stand of 95 in 9.2, by which time Marsh had already scored 76 from 32.
Best bowling performances
Bhuvneshwar Kumar - 130.04 impact points
4/23 (4) vs MI, Raipur
In a season in which he barely had a poor game, it's no surprise that the most impactful bowling performance belongs to Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Against MI in Raipur, he accounted for four of their heavyweights - Ryan Rickelton, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma. Three of them fell within the first three overs of the innings, and Bhuvneshwar also had an economy rate of under six runs per over.
Arshdeep Singh - 125.55 impact points
3/22 (4) vs MI, Mumbai
A similar performance against the same team, but this time by Arshdeep Singh, during the part of the season when Punjab Kings were still winning. Arshdeep dismissed Rickelton (2) and Suryakumar (0) early in the innings, and went at under a run a ball in a match where no other bowler conceded less than 7.5 runs per over.
Corbin Bosch - 123.70 impact points
4/26 (4) vs MI, Raipur
In the same match where Bhuvneshwar took the four-for, Corbin Bosch did his best to bring MI back into it with a four-for of his own, including the wickets of Rajat Patidar, Jitesh Sharma and Tim David. But it came in a defeat, as Bhuvneshwar struck a crucial six and RCB sneaked home off the last ball.
Jacob Duffy - 123.64 impact points
3/22 (4) vs SRH, Bengaluru
In the first match of the season, with Josh Hazlewood unavailable, Jacob Duffy stepped in and did an outstanding job. He dismissed the dreaded duo of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma in the powerplay, and went at 5.5 in a match in which the next-best economy rate was 7.75, and 10 bowlers went at more than nine per over.
Mohsin Khan - 115.78 impact points
5/23 (4) vs KKR, Lucknow
The only five-for of the season is fifth on this list. Mohsin Khan's wickets included those of Tim Seifert, Cameron Green and Rovman Powell - but he could only force a tie, as Rinku Singh played a dominant role to eventually ensure two points for KKR. Since it was a low-scoring game - 155 played 155 - Mohsin's economy rate didn't win him as many points as it would have, had the totals been higher.
Jamie Overton - 112.18 impact points
4/18 (4) vs DC, Chennai
In the match where Samson scored his first century for CSK, Jamie Overton turned in an outstanding performance with the ball, derailing DC's run chase in the middle and death overs with wickets of Sameer Rizvi, David Miller and Tristan Stubbs. He went at 4.5 runs per over in a match where the next best, among bowlers who bowled more than two overs, was 8.75.