The Week Cricket Forgot What Impossible Means.

Yesterday afternoon at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, Punjab Kings needed to chase 265 runs to win.

The forecasters had their win probability at 14.83% before the first ball of the second innings was bowled.

Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya walked out and hit 116 runs in the first six overs.

Then Shreyas Iyer came in, got dropped twice by the same fielder in successive overs, and hit sixes immediately after each dropped catch. Punjab Kings chased down 265 with six wickets and seven balls to spare. The highest successful chase in the history of T20 cricket. Ever. KL Rahul had scored an unbeaten 152 off 67 balls for DC, the first Indian to score 150 or more in IPL history. In any other week it would have been the only story. Yesterday it was the losing cause.

I have been watching cricket since 1983. I have never seen a week like this one.

Seven Days. Nine Matches. Records Everywhere.

Let me start where my heart is. Sunday April 19. Eden Gardens. KKR versus Rajasthan Royals.

I have been waiting for this blog entry for four weeks.

Rinku Singh. 53 not out off 34 balls. An unbeaten 76-run seventh-wicket stand with Anukul Roy. KKR chased down 156 with four wickets and two balls to spare. Their first win of the season.

I am not ashamed to tell you I let out a sound that my neighbours probably heard.

RR had been 81 for 0 at one point. Suryavanshi was blazing along at 46 off 28 balls. Then Varun Chakravarthy pulled his length back just enough. Suryavanshi went for it and found Ramandeep Singh stationed perfectly at the rope. Clean catch. The partnership was broken. KKR’s bowlers applied pressure. RR collapsed from that platform to finish at 155 for 9.

And then KKR’s top order did what KKR’s top order has been doing all season. They wobbled. 85 for 6. The old panic started to rise in my chest.

But Rinku Singh does not panic. Rinku Singh never panics.

He hooked a short ball magnificently over fine leg for the winning six. Pure emotion. Pure relief. The whole of Eden Gardens on its feet.

Matheesha Pathirana had also officially joined the squad that morning, finally clearing his NOC from Sri Lanka Cricket. Even the timing of his arrival felt like something shifting.

Also on April 19, Punjab Kings posted 254 for 7 and demolished LSG in Mullanpur. Priyansh Arya and Cooper Connolly put on an unforgettable 182-run partnership for the second wicket in just 13.2 overs. The 11th and 12th overs alone yielded 37 runs. The 13th over against Aiden Markram went for 32. LSG never came close.

Monday April 20. Ahmedabad. GT versus MI. And Tilak Varma.

Kagiso Rabada ripped through the MI top order in the powerplay, taking 3 for 33. MI were in real trouble. Then Tilak Varma and Naman Dhir built a partnership. Dhir made 45. Tilak made 101 not out off 45 balls. Eight boundaries. Seven sixes. Strike rate of 224. His first IPL century. Against a bowling attack that had just embarrassed his team’s top order.

MI posted 199. Bumrah took a first-ball wicket when GT chased. GT were bowled out for 100. MI won by 99 runs.

Tuesday April 21. Hyderabad. SRH versus DC. And Abhishek Sharma produced one of the great individual innings of this IPL.

Abhishek Sharma scored an unbeaten 135 off 68 balls. Ten fours. Ten sixes. SRH posted 242. Eshan Malinga took 4 for 32. DC fell 47 runs short.

An unbeaten 135. And that innings will still be the second or third conversation when people talk about this week.

Wednesday April 22. Lucknow. LSG versus RR. A low-scoring match by this week’s extraordinary standards, but no less dramatic for it.

RR were in tatters at 32 for 3 inside four overs. Mohammed Shami had removed Jaiswal and Jurel. Mohsin Khan got rid of Suryavanshi who made just 8. The teenage sensation who had been unstoppable suddenly looked very human on a seaming, swinging surface.

Into this chaos walked Ravindra Jadeja. Calm. Unhurried. He batted with a revised total in mind and did not take a risk until the last two overs. Between overs 12 and 18 RR hit just three boundaries. Then Jadeja found his range, ransacking 20 off Mayank Yadav’s final over. He finished unbeaten on 43 off 29 balls, pushing RR to 159 for 6.

Jofra Archer then took 3 for 20. Nandre Burger and Brijesh Sharma picked up two wickets each. LSG were bowled out for 119. RR won by 40 runs.

Jadeja was the man of the match. He dedicated it to his wife, the education minister of Gujarat. Only Jadeja.

Thursday April 23. Wankhede Stadium. MI versus CSK. And Sanju Samson scored his second century of the IPL season.

Samson finished unbeaten on 101 off 54 balls. Ten boundaries. Six sixes. CSK posted 207 for 6. Akeal Hosein, introduced as the impact player, then took 4 for 17 and MI were dismissed for 104. CSK won by 103 runs. Their biggest margin of victory in their entire IPL history.

When Samson brought up his century, Bumrah, Hardik and Suryakumar Yadav all came over to congratulate him. In the CSK dressing room, Steven Fleming pulled him into a bear hug.

Two centuries in seven innings for his new franchise. Nobody has made more. The man who came to CSK with question marks hanging over his head is now the most dangerous batter in this tournament.

Friday April 24. Chinnaswamy. RCB versus GT. And Virat Kohli reminded everyone he is still the best chaser in the game. Sai Sudharsan had scored a magnificent 100 off 58 balls for GT, becoming the fastest player to reach 2000 IPL runs. GT posted 205. Kohli then scored 81 off 44 balls and Padikkal made 55 as RCB chased it down by five wickets.

Five centuries in five days. And the week was not finished.

Saturday April 25. Two matches. And the day cricket lost its mind completely.

The first match, DC versus PBKS. I have already told you that story above. KL Rahul’s unbeaten 152 that nobody will remember. The highest successful chase in T20 history. A day that rewrote the record books entirely.

The second match, RR versus SRH in Jaipur. And Suryavanshi scored his second century of IPL 2026.

103 off 37 balls. He reached his century off just 36 balls. He now has the second and third-quickest centuries in the history of the entire IPL. He is 15 years old.

But SRH chased down 229 anyway. Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan firing at the top of the order, both teams combining to put down seven chances in a match that was as chaotic as it was brilliant. Even a Suryavanshi century was not enough on this evening.

The Week That Rewrote Everything

Five individual centuries in one week. The highest successful T20 chase ever. KL Rahul’s unbeaten 152 ending on the losing side. Tilak Varma’s first IPL hundred. Abhishek Sharma’s unbeaten 135 that felt like old news by Friday.

There was a time when 200 was a fortress in T20 cricket. This week, 264 was not enough. Let that land for a moment.

The game has changed. It has changed at the pace of a Prabhsimran Singh cover drive in the first six overs.

And KKR. Finally. Something To Smile About.

Rinku’s 53 not out. Anukul’s calm 29. A win at Eden Gardens. Our first of the season.

It is not enough. We know that. One win from seven games still leaves KKR in serious trouble. The bowling combinations still need answers. The top-order fragility is still very real. But Pathirana being available changes at least one thing.

Last Sunday night, for the first time this season, I went to sleep smiling.

In a week full of records, centuries, and history being made every other evening, that simple feeling of watching Rinku hit that winning six was still the best moment of my week.

Sometimes, after weeks of heartbreak, a win is everything.

Tell Me What You Think

What was your moment of the week?

KL Rahul’s 152 that nobody will talk about? Suryavanshi’s 103 off 37 balls at 15? PBKS chasing 265 and making it look almost routine? Tilak Varma’s hundred that turned a 99-run win? Or Sanju Samson with his second century of the season at Wankhede?

And KKR fans. Tell me. Did you also let out that sound when Rinku hit that winning six at Eden Gardens?

If you missed last week’s blog, read it here.