The IPL 2026 league stage wrapped up on Sunday, with Rajasthan Royals grabbing the fourth and final playoff berth after a really vital win vs Mumbai Indians at Wankhede Stadium. After that, the whole tournament has basically moved into the knockout phase now. Royal Challengers Bengaluru will line up against Gujarat Titans for Qualifier 1, and Sunrisers Hyderabad will take on Rajasthan Royals in the Eliminator, so yeah it gets intense from here. What’s kind of cool is that all four playoff sides have already lifted the IPL trophy one time before. RCB finally ended their long title drought in 2025, meanwhile RR are still the oldest champions hanging around,waiting for another crown since that 2008 win. Also this season threw up a bunch of memorable personal shows from all 10 teams. Newer talent got plenty of spotlight, and the seasoned performers, again proved they still matter a lot. Top-order: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Shubman Gill (c), Ishan Kishan (wk): Vaibhav Sooryavanshi grabs the first opener’s spot after showing he was the most dominant opener this season, honestly it looked pretty clear. The RR batter racked up 583 runs in 14 innings and was a big reason why his side, got through to the playoffs. In the run, he smashed 50 fours and 53 sixes ,and for a short while he even held the Orange Cap, like not for ages but enough to make noise. Next to him is the dependable Shubman Gill, who is still in the race for another Orange Cap. Gill put up 616 runs in 13 innings at an eye catching strike rate of 161.67. Plus, his smart captaincy vibe helped Gujarat Titans land in the top-two finish, so yeah he is now the captain of this side too. At number three comes one of India’s most fun T20 batters right now, Ishan Kishan. Coming fresh off winning the T20 World Cup 2026, Kishan kept the momentum rolling in the IPL by scoring 569 runs with six half-centuries. Batting for SRH at No. 3, he kept a stunning strike rate of 178.36, and the team wrapped up third on the points table. Middle-order and all-rounders: Shreyas Iyer, Heinrich Klaasen, Tim David, Jason Holder, Krunal Pandya Shreyas Iyer once again did the whole “strong IPL 2025 season” thing and followed it up with another very decent campaign. Yeah there were a couple of not-so-clean, a bit inconsistent matches, but still in the end he finished on 498 runs, strike rate 168.81, with five fifties and a century in the mix. And in the middle order, Heinrich Klaasen comes in, he pretty much became the first batter who was not in the top three positions in IPL history to smash more than 600 runs in one season, while keeping a strike rate of 169.47, that’s what it says anyway. Now the No. 6 and No. 7 places go to that overseas duo, Tim David and Jason Holder, who are basically famous for their six-hitting attitude. David made 277 runs from 13 innings, strike rate 197.85, and for RCB, that helped them finish right at the top of the table. Holder, meanwhile, didn’t get the bat that often , but when he did, he looked solid and also made it count with the ball, picking up 13 wickets in eight innings at an economy of 7.34… after the season start he was on the bench for a while, so that comeback felt pretty sharp too. Krunal Pandya adds this kind of balance to the XI, as a dependable spin bowling all-rounder who can just float, in the batting order. With his clever variations in pace length and bounce, he ended up claiming 11 wickets from 13 innings, at an economy 8.97, pretty tidy really. He also managed 182 runs across seven innings at a strike rate of 145.60 and that includes a match winning fifty versus MI, which was huge. Bowlers: Jofra Archer, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Prince Yadav The bowling unit has that raw pace from Jofra Archer, the swing know how from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and then the smart hard-length approach from Prince Yadav. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, leads the Purple Cap race with 24 wickets in 14 matches. Along with keeping an economy of just 8.07, he has been really effective in both the early overs and during the slog end, mostly because of his precise yorkers. Archer gets the nod ahead of Kagiso Rabada, mostly because he’s made a real difference in the death overs. Rabada has been the one lighting things up mainly during the powerplay, a stretch where both Archer and Bhuvneshwar are also very sharp. Archer has picked up 21 wickets at an economy rate of 8.76, which is a bit better than Rabada’s 9.18, even with Rabada hauling 24 wickets. On top of that, he pretty much carried RR’s pace attack on his own this season, or close enough to feel like it. Also Read | Travis Head's wife Revealed How Virat Kohli Fans Abused Her After RCB vs SRH Clash Prince Yadav has surfaced as one of the biggest finds of IPL 2026. Even though his team ended up at the foot of the table, he still snapped up 16 wickets in 14 innings. His knack for delivering awkward overs, plus the way he nails hard length after hard length, is what helped him earn his first India call up. Impact Player: Yuzvendra Chahal Yuzvendra Chahal ends up in this XI, yes ahead of Rashid Khan and Sunil Narine, pretty much because of the overall team combination. The veteran leg-spinner, finished as the top wicket-taker Indian spin option of the season, with 12 wickets from 12 innings at an economy of 9.39, even while there were a few dropped catches off his bowling during the tournament. IPL 2026: Team of The League Phase Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Shubman Gill (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Heinrich Klaasen, Tim David, Jason Holder, Krunal Pandya, Jofra Archer, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Prince Yadav. IP: Yuzvendra Chahal.