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Short answer: IPL 2027 will be the 20th season of the Indian Premier League. Across the first 19 seasons, eight different franchises have won the title. Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings lead with five each, Kolkata Knight Riders have three, and Royal Challengers Bengaluru have two after winning back-to-back in 2025 and 2026. Rajasthan Royals won the inaugural edition in 2008; Deccan Chargers, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Gujarat Titans have one apiece.
Every IPL champion, 2008–2026
| Season | Champion | Runner-up |
| 2008 | Rajasthan Royals | Chennai Super Kings |
| 2009 | Deccan Chargers | Royal Challengers Bangalore |
| 2010 | Chennai Super Kings | Mumbai Indians |
| 2011 | Chennai Super Kings | Royal Challengers Bangalore |
| 2012 | Kolkata Knight Riders | Chennai Super Kings |
| 2013 | Mumbai Indians | Chennai Super Kings |
| 2014 | Kolkata Knight Riders | Kings XI Punjab |
| 2015 | Mumbai Indians | Chennai Super Kings |
| 2016 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | Royal Challengers Bangalore |
| 2017 | Mumbai Indians | Rising Pune Supergiant |
| 2018 | Chennai Super Kings | Sunrisers Hyderabad |
| 2019 | Mumbai Indians | Chennai Super Kings |
| 2020 | Mumbai Indians | Delhi Capitals |
| 2021 | Chennai Super Kings | Kolkata Knight Riders |
| 2022 | Gujarat Titans | Rajasthan Royals |
| 2023 | Chennai Super Kings | Gujarat Titans |
| 2024 | Kolkata Knight Riders | Sunrisers Hyderabad |
| 2025 | Royal Challengers Bengaluru | Punjab Kings |
| 2026 | Royal Challengers Bengaluru | Gujarat Titans |
Title tally
| Franchise | Titles | Years |
| Mumbai Indians | 5 | 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020 |
| Chennai Super Kings | 5 | 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021, 2023 |
| Kolkata Knight Riders | 3 | 2012, 2014, 2024 |
| Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 2 | 2025, 2026 |
| Rajasthan Royals | 1 | 2008 |
| Deccan Chargers | 1 | 2009 |
| Sunrisers Hyderabad | 1 | 2016 |
| Gujarat Titans | 1 | 2022 |
The five eras that made the league
Nineteen seasons is too long to read as one story. It reads far better as five.
2008–2010: the founding shock
The league arrived fully formed and immediately produced its defining image — Brendon McCullum’s 158 not out in the very first match, a score that told a sceptical cricketing public exactly what this competition was going to be. Then Rajasthan Royals, the smallest budget in the field, won the inaugural title under Shane Warne. It remains the best argument the IPL has ever made for itself: that money did not automatically buy trophies.
The 2009 season was played entirely in South Africa because of a clash with the Indian general election — the first sign that the tournament could uproot itself and survive.
2011–2015: the duopoly forms
Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians turned the league into a two-club conversation, meeting in three finals across this stretch. The 2013 spot-fixing and betting scandal produced the deepest institutional crisis in the league’s history and eventually cost both Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals two seasons, with Rising Pune Supergiant and Gujarat Lions filling the gap in 2016 and 2017.
2016–2020: consolidation and the bubble year
Sunrisers Hyderabad won in 2016 on the strength of a bowling attack in a competition built for batters. Mumbai Indians then won four titles in five years and established themselves as the most professionally run franchise in the league. The 2020 season was played in the United Arab Emirates inside a biosecure bubble during the pandemic — the second time the IPL had relocated wholesale and completed a full season.
2021–2024: expansion and the money
The commercial inflection point. The league grew from eight teams to ten in 2022 with the addition of Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants, and Gujarat won the title in their debut season. The match count rose to 74.
Then came the 2022 media rights auction. The 2023–27 cycle sold for ₹48,390.5 crore across 410 matches — an increase of 196% on the previous cycle, when Star India had paid ₹16,347.5 crore for 300 matches. Television and digital rights were split, with Viacom18 taking digital and Disney television. That single auction changed what an IPL match was worth and, by extension, what a player was worth.
The Impact Player rule arrived in 2023, permitting a substitution mid-match. Nine of the ten highest team totals in IPL history have come since.
2025–2026: the reset and the Bengaluru breakthrough
The 2025 mega auction in Jeddah dissolved every squad, restored the Right to Match card in modified form and raised the purse to ₹120 crore. Royal Challengers Bengaluru, the league’s longest-running near-miss story, finally won the title in 2025 against Punjab Kings — and then made it two in a row in 2026, beating Gujarat Titans by five wickets in Ahmedabad, with Virat Kohli unbeaten on 75 from 42 balls in the chase.
The 2026 season also introduced the league’s next great subject. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi of Rajasthan Royals took the Orange Cap with 776 runs at a strike rate of 237.30 and was named Player of the Series — the youngest Orange Cap winner in IPL history, at 15.
All-time IPL records
Figures as of the end of the 2026 season unless noted. [Editorial note: verify each line against the official IPL statistics page before publishing and after every season.]
Batting
| Record | Holder | Figure |
| Most career runs | Virat Kohli | Passed 8,700 during IPL 2026 and closing on 9,000 |
| Highest individual score | Chris Gayle (RCB v PWI, 2013) | 175 not out off 66 balls |
| Fastest century | Chris Gayle | 100 off 30 balls |
| Most sixes in an innings | Chris Gayle (2013) | 17 |
| Highest strike rate in a season | Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (RR, 2026) | 237.30 across 776 runs |
Gayle’s 2013 innings has now stood unbeaten for well over a decade and is arguably the most durable record in the competition. The chasing pack is instructive though: Sooryavanshi hit 12 sixes in an innings against Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2026, joining a list previously occupied only by Gayle, Brendon McCullum and AB de Villiers.
Bowling
| Record | Holder | Figure |
| Most career wickets | Yuzvendra Chahal | 228 |
| Second | Bhuvneshwar Kumar | 215 |
| Third | Sunil Narine | 201 |
| Best bowling figures | Alzarri Joseph (MI v SRH, 2019) | 6 for 12 |
Chahal became the first bowler to reach 200 IPL wickets in 2024, and the fact that a leg-spinner holds the record in a format built to punish spin is one of the more quietly remarkable facts about the league.
The rule changes that reshaped the game
| Change | Introduced | Effect |
| Player auction | 2008 | Established the salary-cap model that keeps the league competitive |
| Expansion to 10 teams | 2022 | Match count rose to 74; two new franchises sold for a combined ₹12,000 crore |
| Impact Player | 2023 | Extra specialist per side; scores rose sharply |
| Right to Match restored | 2025 | Franchises can buy back released players by matching the top bid, with the bidder given a final raise |
| Uncapped player rule revived | 2025 | Indian players out of international cricket for five years can be retained cheaply |
| Match fees introduced | 2025 | ₹7.5 lakh per match on top of contract value |
What season 20 brings
IPL 2027 sits at a hinge point, which is what makes the anniversary worth marking rather than merely noting.
An earlier window. BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia has indicated the board is targeting 10 March to 15 May 2027, about two weeks earlier than 2026, to avoid the worst of the summer heat and the pre-monsoon period.
A mini-auction, then a reset. The 2027 auction will be a mini-auction — the last before the mega auction expected ahead of IPL 2028.
A decision on the Impact Player. When the rule was approved ahead of IPL 2025, the governing council cleared it for three seasons, through 2027. Season 20 is therefore the last under the current approval.
The next commercial cycle. The 2023–27 media rights deal expires after this season. The tender for 2028–32 is expected to commence in late 2027. Media Partners Asia’s March 2026 report projected the next cycle to hold roughly flat at around US$5.4 billion, with per-match value falling about 13% because the number of matches rises.
A bigger league, but not yet. IPL chairman Arun Dhumal has said the board is considering expanding to 94 matches in a full home-and-away format from 2028, contingent on securing a longer window in the next ICC cycle — and explicitly without adding new franchises, to avoid diluting the domestic talent pool.
In other words: season 20 is the last season of the IPL as it has existed since 2022. Whatever comes after looks different.
Frequently asked questions
Q.1: Which team has won the most IPL titles?
Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings are level on five each.
Q.2: Who won the first IPL?
Rajasthan Royals, in 2008, captained by Shane Warne.
Q.3: How many teams have won the IPL?
Eight: Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Rajasthan Royals, Deccan Chargers, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Gujarat Titans.
Q.4: Who has scored the most runs in IPL history?
Virat Kohli, by a comfortable distance.
Q.5: Who has taken the most IPL wickets?
Yuzvendra Chahal, who became the first bowler past 200 IPL wickets in 2024.
Q.6; What is the highest individual score in the IPL?
Chris Gayle’s unbeaten 175 off 66 balls for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Pune Warriors India in 2013.
Q.7: Is IPL 2027 the 20th season?
Yes. The first season was played in 2008, and there has been one every year since.
Q.8: Which teams no longer exist?
Deccan Chargers, Kochi Tuskers Kerala, Pune Warriors India, Rising Pune Supergiant and Gujarat Lions have all left the league. Deccan Chargers are the only defunct franchise to have won a title.