The points table doesn’t lie. The correlation between a team’s league position and how well its openers have fared has become too obvious to disregard.

The sides with the most explosive openers — Punjab Kings (strike-rate of 202.88), Sunrisers Hyderabad (182.90), Rajasthan Royals (182.78), and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (162.09) — are in the top four spots 26 days and 32 matches into IPL 2026, underlying the importance of maximising the PowerPlay in the modern T20 game.