Despite the Gujarat Titans (GT) win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in Ahmedabad in game number 42 on Thursday, IPL 2026 has been an unusual season in terms of the dominance of the leading teams. After 41 games, the top-four teams seemed to have pulled away from the rest of the league with 12 or more points, while the other teams had eight or fewer. GT's win has taken them to within two points of the leader group, but even so, this has been an unusually lopsided season.
The points table bears this out. In seasons with nine or more teams in the competition, this is the joint-earliest when four teams have reached 12 or more points. The only other season when this happened after 41 matches was way back in 2013, when the IPL was a nine-team tournament.
On that occasion, Chennai Super Kings (CSK), RCB, Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Mumbai Indians (MI) were on 12 on more points after 41 games, with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) fifth on 10. RCB eventually missed out on the top four, with SRH getting there, while the other three reached the playoffs. However, since that was a nine-team league, all teams had played at least nine games after the 41st match, with RCB playing ten. This time, after 41 matches, only two teams played nine, with the others on eight.
In a ten-team IPL, the earliest that four teams have touched 12 or more points before the current season was after 45 games, in 2025. (Here is the table after 46 matches.) RCB, GT, MI and Delhi Capitals (DC) were on 12 points, but two other teams were close - Punjab Kings (PBKS) on 11, and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on 10. DC had only played eight matches then - as had GT - while MI and RCB had played 10. However, DC had a horror run in the second half of their campaign and eventually failed to qualify, with PBKS taking their place.
In 2022, it took 49 games for four teams to reach 12-plus points, but in all other seasons, it's taken 50 or more matches. In 2023, it took as many as 56.
This season, four teams have broken away from the rest of the pack early, which is why GT's win against RCB was a good result for the league. For the last third of the matches in the league stage to sustain interest, more teams currently in the bottom half will have to upset the top-four teams.
A win for DC against RR on Friday will be a start, as will Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) beating SRH and GT getting another home win against PBKS on Sunday, which will then push them to 12 points - and into the big league - as well.
However, if the current top four continue to pile on the wins, the last couple of weeks of the league stage could be a rather tame affair, with a top-two finish being the only point of interest.
