IPL 2026 Team and Player Tips: Punjab have six appeal and two stand out for top bowler bets

IPL 2026 Tip #1 - Back Punjab Kings most sixes @ 4/15.00

Punjab's free hitting took them all the way to the IPL final last season and their gung-ho approach with the bat looks set to continue.

Although they fell at the final hurdle, coach Ricky Ponting has instilled an aggressive approach from his batters and he has recruited accordingly. And if Ponting is to be believed their home surface may have been tweaked to allow them to be even more destructive.

That may not result in a first-ever IPL title. But no matter. We can get on the Punjab thrill ride with this bet instead, meaning we don't have to worry about what they do in the field (they have a tendency to go round the park, too).

No team hit more sixes than Punjab in 2025 which was some feat because they are hampered by a more sluggish backyard. Punjab's 173 dwarfed the next best from Lucknow Super Giants at 152. On that alone, by the way, it is arguable that LSG with Mitch Marsh and Nic Pooran starting fires are runners at 15/28.50.

But back to Punjab, who should be favourites. They have Sunrisers and Mumbai Indians either side of them and it is a relatively simple statistical task to show the odds are wrong. Punjab's top six have a cumulative sixes per balls faced percentage of 11.6% in the last two years. Sunrisers come in at 9.1 and Mumbai 8.1. That's a large enough gulf to suggest Punjab are the team to bet on.

IPL 2026 Tip #2 - Back Vaibhav Arora top KKR wicket-taker @ 16/54.20

The depletion of Kolkata Knight Riders' bowling stock means there is little for Vaibhav to beat on this market. Injuries and unavailability may well have ruined their chances of challenging for the title before a ball has been bowled.

Harshit Rana and Akash Deep have been ruled out of the tournament. Mathees Pathirana is struggling with injury. Andre Russell's KKR career has ended while Musafizur Rahman's never got started thanks to Indian government intervention. Blessing Muzarabani and Navdeep Saini have signed as replacements.

Vaibhav looks a threat, though. He is now their main pace bowler and should work at the death. Fortunately his strike rate numbers in the last two years are strong enough to make one wonder whether he should be shorter than 16/54.20.

He has taken a wicket every 15.5 which puts him in contention for the overall top wicket-taker given there are only six available bowlers ahead of him in that list (qualification 20 wickets or mire in the last two years). For comparison Varun Chakravarthy returns identical strike rate numbers while Sunil Narine has 20.5. It should be hoped that cheap wickets at the death make Vaibhav the wager.

IPL 2026 Tip #3 - Back Sai Kishore top Gujarat Titans wicket-taker @ 13/27.50

Sai Kishore has a happy knack of coming on in the middle overs and snaring batsmen. There's no evidence that is unlikely to stop in 2026. He is underrated for top Gujarat wicket-taker.

Strike rate is the key metric here for the spin bowler. In his 19 IPL matches he has a wicket every 12.8 balls. It is a ridiculously good number and it may not be long before he is considered one of the MVPs. To put that in context, only Andre Russell and Josh Hazlewood are as lethal in the last two years.

Sai's angle and slow left-arm will spin the ball away from the eyeline of the right-handed batsmen so he should remain in the game for wickets. We're not unduly concerned that he could be pipped by a death bowler although recognise that Prasidh Krishna is the more likely winner at 11/43.75. Market fav is Rashid Khan at 23/103.30 and we would have the two the other way round. Sai should be much, much closer in the betting.

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