IPL 2026 Predictions: Can Punjab finally get over the line?

The biggest tournament in franchise cricket is back as the IPL roadshow rolls back into town. 

Ten teams. 84 Matches. The best players in the world in front of the biggest crowds in the world. What's not to like?

We've taken a look at all the latest squads, odds and picked out a few angles we like in our IPL 2026 predictions...

Check out all our IPL Betting Odds over at betfred.com

The 19th season of the Indian Premier League gets underway on Saturday afternoon, as the defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru host the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium and the biggest festival of T20 cricket in the world explodes on to our television screens once more.

After a reduced schedule in 2025, we are back to the full complement of 84 fixtures across the next two months, leading up to the final on May 31 at the same stadium where we start at on Saturday.

But which teams will be there? Let's take a close look at all the 10 franchises ahead of the big start at the weekend.

Chennai Super Kings

• Outright odds: 8/1
• Last season: 10th
• Best IPL performance: Winners (2010, 2011, 2018, 2021, 2023)
• Head Coach: Stephen Fleming
• Captain: Ruturaj Gaikwad
• Highest paid player: Kartik Sharma/ Prashant Veer (£1.2m)
• English players: Jamie Overton

MS Dhoni, Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapneet Singh, Jamie Overton*, Mukesh Choudhary, Nathan Ellis*, Noor Ahmad*, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Sanju Samson, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube, Shreyas Gopal, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Ayush Mhatre, Dewald Brevis*, Urvil Patel, Kartik Sharma, Prashant Veer, Rahul Chahar, Matt Henry*, Akeal Hosein*, Matthew Short*, Zak Foulkes*, Sarfaraz Khan, Aman Khan.

* overseas player

Delhi Capitals

• Outright odds: 9/1
• Last season: 5th
• Best IPL performance: Runners up (2021)
• Head Coach: Hemang Badani
• Captain: Axar Patel
• Highest paid player: Auqib Nabi (£670k)
• English players: None

Abhishek Porel, Ajay Mandal, Ashutosh Sharma, Axar Patel, Dushmantha Chameera*, Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Madhav Tiwari, Mitchell Starc*, Mukesh Kumar, Nitish Rana, Sameer Rizvi, T. Natarajan, Tripurana Vijay, Tristan Stubbs*, Vipraj Nigam, Auqib Dar, Pathum Nissanka*, Kyle Jamieson*, Lungi Ngidi*, David Miller*, Prithvi Shaw, Sahil Parakh.

Gujarat Titans

• Outright odds: 8/1
• Last season: 4th
• Best IPL performance: Winners (2022)
• Head Coach: Ashish Nehra
• Captain: Shubman Gill
• Highest paid player: Jason Holder (£560k)
• English players: Jos Buttler, Tom Banton, Luke Wood

Anuj Rawat, Glenn Phillips*, Gurnoor Singh Brar, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Jos Buttler*, Kagiso Rabada*, Kumar Kushagra, Manav Suthar, Mohammad Siraj, Mohd. Arshad Khan, Nishant Sindhu, Prasidh Krishna, R. Sai Kishore, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan*, Sai Sudharsan, Shahrukh Khan, Shubman Gill, Washington Sundar, Jason Holder*, Tom Banton*, Ashok Sharma, Luke Wood*, Prithviraj Yarra.

Kolkata Knight Riders

• Outright odds: 10/1
• Last season: 8th
• Best IPL performance: Winners (2012, 2014, 2024)
• Head Coach: Abhishek Nayar
• Captain: Ajinkya Rahane
• Highest paid player: Cameron Green (£2.1m)
• English players: None

Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell*, Sunil Narine*, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, Cameron Green*, Matheesha Pathirana*, Mustafizur Rahman*, Tejasvi Singh, Rachin Ravindra*, Finn Allen*, Tim Seifert*, Akash Deep, Rahul Tripathi, Daksh Kamra, Sarthak Ranjan, Prashant Solanki, Kartik Tyagi.

Lucknow Super Giants

• Outright odds: 12/1
• Last season: 7th
• Best IPL performance: 3rd (2022, 2023)
• Head Coach: Justin Langer
• Captain: Rishabh Pant
• Highest paid player: Josh Inglis (£688k)
• English players: None

Abdul Samad, Aiden Markram*, Akash Singh, Arjun Tendulkar, Arshin Kulkarni, Avesh Khan, Ayush Badoni, Digvesh Rathi, Himmat Singh, Manimaran Siddharth, Matthew Breetzke*, Mayank Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mitchell Marsh*, Mohsin Khan, Nicholas Pooran*, Prince Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Shahbaz Ahmed, Josh Inglis*, Mukul Choudhary, Akshat Raghuwanshi, Anrich Nortje*, Wanindu Hasaranga*, Naman Tiwari.

Mumbai Indians

• Outright odds: 7/2
• Last season: 3rd
• Best IPL performance: Winners (2013, 2025, 2017, 2019, 2020)
• Head Coach: Mahela Jayawardene
• Captain: Hardik Pandya
• Highest paid player: Quinton de Kock (£80k)
• English players: Will Jacks

Allah Ghazanfar*, Ashwani Kumar, Corbin Bosch*, Deepak Chahar, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Mayank Markande (T), *Mitchell Santner, Naman Dhir, Raghu Sharma, Raj Angad Bawa, Robin Minz, Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton*, Shardul Thakur, Sherfane Rutherford*, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Verma, Trent Boult*, Will Jacks*, Quinton de Kock*, Mayank Rawat, Atharva Ankolekar, Mohammad Izhar, Danish Malewar.

Punjab Kings

• Outright odds: 8/1
• Last season: Runners up
• Best IPL performance: Runners up (2014, 2025)
• Head Coach: Ricky Ponting
• Captain: Shreyas Iyer
• Highest paid player: Ben Dwarshuis (£350k)
• English players: None

Arshdeep Singh, Azmatullah Omarzai*, Harnoor Pannu, Harpreet Brar, Lockie Ferguson*, Marco Jansen*, Marcus Stoinis*, Mitch Owen*, Musheer Khan, Nehal Wadhera, Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya, Pyla Avinash, Shashank Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Suryansh Shedge, Vishnu Vinod, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Xavier Bartlett*, Yash Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ben Dwarshuis*, Cooper Connolly*, Vishal Nishad, Pravin Dubey.

Rajasthan Royals

• Outright odds: 14/1
• Last season: 9th
• Best IPL performance: Winners (2008)
• Head Coach: Kumar Sangakkara
• Captain: Riyan Parag
• Highest paid player: Ravi Bishnoi (£590k)
• English players: Jofra Archer

Dhruv Jurel, Donovan Ferreira*, Jofra Archer*, Kwena Maphaka*, Lhuan-Dre Pretorious*, Nandre Burger*, Ravindra Jadeja, Riyan Parag, Sam Curran*, Sandeep Sharma, Shimron Hetmyer*, Shubham Dubey, Tushar Deshpande, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yashaswi Jaiswal, Yudhvir Charak, Ravi Bishnoi, Adam Milne*, Ravi Singh, Sushant Mishra, Kuldeep Sen, Brijesh Sharma, Aman Rao Perala, Vignesh Puthur, Yash Raj Punja.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru

• Outright odds: 11/2
• Last season: Winners
• Best IPL performance: Winners (2025)
• Head Coach: Andy Flower
• Captain: Rajat Patidar
• Highest paid player: Venkatesh Iyer (£560k)
• English players: Jacob Bethell, Phil Salt, Jordan Cox

Abhinandan Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Devdutt Padikkal, Jacob Bethell*, Jitesh Sharma, Josh Hazlewood*, Krunal Pandya, Nuwan Thushara*, Phil Salt*, Rajat Patidar, Rasikh Dar, Romario Shepherd*, Suyash Sharma, Swapnil Singh, Tim David*, Virat Kohli, Yash Dayal, Venkatesh Iyer*, Mangesh Yadav, Jordan Cox*, Kanishk Chouhan, Vihaan Malhotra, Vicky Ostwal, Satvik Deswal.

Sunrisers Hyderabad

• Outright odds: 8/1
• Last season: 6th
• Best IPL performance: Winners (2016)
• Head Coach: Daniel Vettori
• Captain: Pat Cummins
• Highest paid player: Liam Livingstone (£1m)
• English players: Liam Livingstone, Brydon Carse

Abhishek Sharma, Aniket Verma, Brydon Carse*, Eshan Malinga*, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel, Heinrich Klaasen*, Ishan Kishan, Jaydev Unadkat, Kamindu Mendis*, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins*, Smaran Ravichandaran, Travis Head*, Zeeshan Ansari, Liam Livingstone*, Jack Edwards*, Salil Arora, Shivam Mavi, Krains Fuletra, Praful Hinge, Amit Kumar, Onkar Tarmale, Sakib Hussain, Shivang Kumar.

Punjab Kings @ 8/1

As always in the IPL, this looks an extremely competitive league with most teams capable of winning the title and even the rank outsiders at just 14/1.

Five-time champions Mumbai Indians look a huge threat at 7/1, with an absolutely stacked squad of  T20 World Cup winning stars of Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav. Combine that with the power hitting of Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton, Will Jacks and Quinton de Kock and they are going to be extremely tough to beat.

Last year's winners RCB look well placed to contend again, with established stars Virat Kohli and Josh Hazlewood looking to be up near the top of their respective stats tables once more. Bethell, Salt and Cox will bring a strong English core and all can fire on their day.

However, I'm taking last year's runners-up Punjab Kings to finally break their duck and win their first Indian Premier League. The New Chandigarh franchise have knocked on the door previously, finishing second in both 2014 and then again last spring and they look well set to go one spot further this term.

Ricky Ponting's side dominated the league stages last time, finishing top of the table after nine wins but lost by six runs in a heart-breaking final to RCB.

Again, World Cup winners Shreyas Iyer (604 runs in 2025) will be the main run scorer and Arshdeep Singh will be their main wicket-taking threat after picking up 21 last season. Their overseas options look strong with Australian all-rounder Marcus Stonis joined by great fast bowling options in Marco Jansen, Lockie Ferguson and Ben Dwarshuis.

I think 2026 will finally be the year when the Kings reign supreme in the IPL...