Shane Watson for Rajasthan Royals, 2008
Inns 15 | Runs 472 | SR 151.76 | Wickets 15 | ER 7.07
Long before the Impact Player era, it felt like Rajasthan Royals played the inaugural IPL with twelve players in their side. The Australia allrounder Shane Watson was a two-in-one player like no other: he was the tournament's highest fourth-highest run-getter as well as its fourth-highest wicket-taker in 2008. Only 11 players have managed 400 runs and 15 wickets in a T20 series till date. Watson was the first to the mark, and even among those who came after him, the difference of over 24 between Watson's batting and bowling averages remains the highest.
His most clutch performance came in the semi-final against Delhi Daredevils, when he scored a 29-ball 52 from No. 4. Then, in the chase, he took out Daredevils' top three - Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan - inside the powerplay to clinch a spot in the final RR would go on to win.
Lasith Malinga for Mumbai Indians, 2011
Inns 16 | Wkts 28 | Econ 5.95 | Ave 13.39
Lasith Malinga, in his prime, was a cheat code with the white ball in hand. In 2011, he had his best-ever season with Mumbai Indians. In 15 of the 16 games he bowled in, he either took at least two wickets or went at under a run a ball. No other bowler has done this as many times in an IPL season.
While MI were knocked out in the second Qualifier, Malinga picked up the Purple Cap with 28 wickets at a mind-boggling economy rate of 5.95. His side-arm action nailed yorkers with a consistency unmatched in the format, laying down a marker that death bowlers in T20 cricket are still trying to emulate.
Chris Gayle for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, 2011
Inns 12 | Runs 608 | SR 183.13 | Ave 67.55 | 2x100/3x50
MI were knocked out in that 2011 Qualifier because they ran into the quintessential "Gaylestorm". The West Indies opener smacked 89 off 47 deliveries, and single-handedly dragged Royal Challengers Bangalore into the final. It was the last of his defining performances in a season full of them.
Chris Gayle had slotted into the RCB squad as a replacement for Dirk Nannes at just USD 650,000, when they had lost three of their first four matches. But Gayle was a batter unlike any before him in the IPL. He redefined the art of six-hitting against the best T20 bowlers in the world, scoring more than 80% of his runs through boundaries in 2011. This is the highest percentage of runs scored through boundaries by anyone with 600 or more runs in an IPL season. Until, of course, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi came along in 2026.
Virat Kohli for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, 2016
Inns 16 | Runs 973 | SR 152.03 | Ave 81.08 | 4x100/7x50
We all know the numbers. We have to restate them anyway: Virat Kohli compiled 11 fifty-plus scores in just 16 innings, the highest ever in a single T20 series by a batter. He also scored his runs at an average of 81.08. He is 300 runs clear of the next highest batter in a T20 series to have averaged 80-plus.
Still, in many ways, his 2016 turned truly Bradmanesque when he fell short of the 1000-run mark in the final. And then, RCB collapsed to a loss. Kohli's imperfection at the final stretch of asking - 27 short of the mythical four-figure mark no one has ever gotten closer to - was just a reflection of how perfect he had been till then.
David Warner for Sunrisers Hyderabad, 2016
Inns 17 | Runs 848 | SR 151.42 | Ave 60.57 | 9x50
In many ways, David Warner's 2016 season for Sunrisers Hyderabad paralleled Kohli's. Both were captains of their sides, leading from the front with an unimaginable bulk of runs at the top of the order. Warner's 848 runs - the second-best batting year in an IPL at the time - remain the most a batter has scored without clinching the Orange Cap.
Warner's 2016 season is also reminiscent of a more recent record. Yomif Kejelcha finished the London marathon this year with a sub-two-hour finish, but the only man who has run a marathon quicker in the history of the sport was the one ahead of him. Unlike Kejelcha, however, Warner finished with that year's trophy in his hands: a reminder that T20 cricket remains a team game.
Sunil Narine for Kolkata Knight Riders, 2024
Inns 15 | Runs 488 | SR 180.74 | Wickets 17 | ER 6.69
Sunil Narine won Kolkata Knight Riders two IPLs by bowling virtually unhittable spells, day in and day out - first in 2012, then again in 2014. Thereafter, he had to go away from the spotlight to rework a troublesome bowling action. Narine had always operated as an outlier - an inimitable spinner - in T20 cricket, but he defied the odds once more by turning into a pinch-hitting allrounder within a few years.
In many ways, his greatest season came when he led KKR to their third title in 2024 in this avatar. We all remember the his maiden IPL century from the top of the order: a swashbuckling 49-ball effort against RR. However, what made this season truly special was that he coupled his 488 runs with 17 wickets. Narine took at least one wicket in each of the 13 innings he bowled in. This remains the most games a bowler has bowled while maintaining a 100% wicket-taking record in an IPL season.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for Rajasthan Royals, 2026
Inns 16 | Runs 776 | SR 237.30 | Ave 48.50 | 1x100/5x50
Gayle's 2011 was epoch-defining for T20 cricket. Kohli's 2016 was Bradmanesque. Sooryavanshi, who was only a few weeks old when Gayle made his RCB debut, combined both their best qualities to come out so far ahead of his peers this season that it defies comprehension. Sooryavanshi won the Orange Cap while scoring quicker than anyone else in the history of the game to have made 600-plus runs in a season.
He bashed a 47-ball 96 in Qualifier 2, and somehow ended up on the losing side of the contest. Appropriately, he spent a lot of this season sat in the dugout wearing a cap signed by Kohli. Just like the RCB man, Sooryavanshi discovered that being peerless is no guarantee of a trophy. But perhaps the scariest thing about Sooryavanshi's GOAT season is that he has all the time in the world to surpass it. More than once.
With stats inputs from Shiva Jayaraman