The 2026 season of the Indian Premier League has come to a close, with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru successfully defending their title after being the dominant
team in the tournament.
The impact player rule, which came into play in 2023, has played a key role in team combinations. The 2026 season has seen multiple players step up and make vital contributions to their teams' successes. While teams, players and experts have been critical of the rule, it adds flexibility to the teams' combinations, allowing them to alter their balance accordingly. There have been players in multiple teams who have stepped up as regular impact players for their teams.
Here are five Impact Players who truly made an impact in IPL 2026:
Josh Inglis - Lucknow Super Giants
The Lucknow Super Giants took a massive punt on Josh Inglis despite availability concerns, which saw him released by the Punjab Kings. Inglis is highly rated in the T20 format due to his ability to score all around the wicket and take on spinners. The 31-year-old repaid the faith the team put in him, scoring 266 runs in five innings at a whopping strike rate of 186.01, slotting into the top of the order.
The Australian wicketkeeper-batter scored three half-centuries in the five games he has played, including a blistering 33-ball 85 against the Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk. He is LSG’s third-highest run-scorer of the season, behind Mitchell Marsh (563) and Rishabh Pant (312).
Rasikh Salam Dar - Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Rasikh Salam Dar was a revelation for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, playing a vital role in their successful title defence. The seamer from Jammu and Kashmir filled in brilliantly as the team's third pacer in the absence of Yash Dayal. His skiddy pace and accuracy made him a regular, reliable option in the middle and death overs, coming into bowl after Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood made inroads in the powerplay.
Rasikh picked up 19 wickets in 12 matches, bowling at an economy rate of 9.46. He picked up figures of 4 for 24 against the Lucknow Super Giants, his best of the season, and was the pick of the bowlers against the Gujarat Titans in the final, with figures of 3 for 27. He was primarily used as the impact player for RCB and executed his role to perfection for the team.
Finn Allen - Kolkata Knight Riders
Finn Allen came into the 2026 IPL carrying a reputation of being one of the most dangerous T20 batters in the worldwide circuit. He had lit the Eden Gardens alight in the semifinal of the T20 World Cup with a 33-ball century against a strong South Africa side. With hype at an all-time high, ot came as a shock when he struggled to adapt in the first few games, eventually seeing himself dropped from the side.
On his return, though, he looked like the dominant batter that had taken the world by storm. He scored a 47-ball century against the Delhi Capitals in a calculated assault against the bowlers. He scored a 38-ball 93 against the Gujarat Titans, displaying his range and power hitting. Allen finished the season with 349 runs at a strike rate of 214.11, the second highest in the league.
Devdutt Padikkal - Royal Challengers Bengaluru
It is a testament to the fact that RCB were so dominant in the league that their main batting and bowling impact players have made this list.Devdutt Padikkalhas been one of the most improved players for the champions in IPL 2026. Improving his game against spin, the local boy played a key role at one-drop, scoring at a brilliant strike rate against both seam and spin.
Padikkal scored 464 runs in 16 matches at a strike rate of 168.73. He scored three half-centuries and formed a solid partnership throughout the season with Virat Kohli. He took on bowlers from the get-go and, as always, looked effortlessly elegant while doing so. Coming off huge runs in the domestic game, the southpaw was able to translate that into runs in the IPL.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi - Rajasthan Royals
A 700-plus run season in a first full season in the IPL is an achievement of the highest order, let alone for a 15-year-old. The magnitude of what Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has achieved in his sophomore year of IPL cricket is unprecedented, to say the least, and is one of those achievements which would take a lifetime to replicate. The prodigious southpaw lit the season alight in 2025 and showed the world why he is such a highly rated prospect.
In 2026, Sooryavnshti showed that he could not just hang with the big pros but could assert a level of dominance they had never faced before. He scored a whopping 776 runs at a strike rate of 237.70, the highest in the league. He scored his second IPL century off just 36 balls and was almost on cue to break Chris Gayle's record of the fastest hundred, but fell for 96 in the Eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad. He picked up five of the available individual awards, in what was a record-shattering year for the young starlet.
