Vaibhav Suryavanshi won the awards of MVP (Most Valuable Player), Orange Cap, Super Striker of the Season, maximum ‘Six’ in IPL 2026. This edition was brilliant for him, he scored 776 runs in 16 matches. This season he scored one century, while missed his century in both the qualifiers (97 and 96). He also made the record of hitting most sixes (72) in a season, which was in the name of Chris Gayle (59) since 2012. However, experts still consider the performance of Sunil Narine (2024) as better among MVP players.
ESPNcricinfo shortlisted the players who performed best in a season, in which the names of Shane Watson (2008), Virat Kohli (2016), David Warner (2016), Sunil Narine (2024) and Vaibhav Suryavanshi (2026) were named. Former cricketers on ESPNcricinfo praised Vaibhav’s performance, but put Sunil Narine’s performance above him.
Ambati Rayudu said, “According to me, Sunil Narine is the best individual performer in an edition of IPL, because he was not a proper batsman like Shane Watson. He had to bat at the top, with top bowlers coming in front of him. That season of his was excellent, it was unbelievable.” He also included Warner’s season in this and said that it is difficult to choose between these two.
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Agreeing with Rayudu, Aaron Finch said, “For me too, Sunil Narine is at the top. He was a brilliant bowler, he took important wickets and also scored runs. Scored runs at a strike rate of 181 and the economy in bowling was 6.7. Opening in batting, bowling and then winning the title. This was the best season so far.” Tom Moody, sitting with him, also seemed to agree with this.
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Moody said, “The most special thing was that he himself was scoring an average of 11 runs in an over and in the same season he was giving less than 7 runs in his over. He is really a champion. The way he batted and bowled, he made that season extraordinary.
Ambati Rayudu believes that Vaibhav Suryavanshi will still have to prove himself on different pitches. He said, “Whenever the pitch was slow, he got out early. So he will have to prove himself on difficult pitches.”