IPL Betting Guide: Ten Teams, Wild Records and Smart Ways to Bet

The Indian Premier League began in 2008 with eight teams. It’s had ten since 2022. The season runs once a year, usually from March to May, and every match is a T20. Each side gets 20 overs, and the whole thing is over in about three hours. This IPL betting guide takes you through the teams, the season, the rules, the records and the betting side, so you know the game before you put money on it.

The Ten IPL Teams

Five franchises have come and gone. Deccan Chargers won the 2009 title and were out after 2012, when the BCCI ended their contract. Kochi Tuskers Kerala lasted one season, 2011. Pune Warriors India played from 2011 to 2013. Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiant played in 2016 and 2017, while Chennai and Rajasthan were out of the league. Everything below is counted to the end of IPL 2026.

Chennai Super Kings (CSK)

Nobody has reached more finals than Chennai Super Kings. They’ve played ten since 2008 and won five (2010, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023). Home is the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. MS Dhoni captained all five title wins. Ruturaj Gaikwad was the captain in IPL 2026.

Mumbai Indians (MI)

Mumbai Indians also have five titles (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020), but they needed only six finals to get them. They play at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Rohit Sharma captained every one of those wins. Hardik Pandya was the captain in IPL 2026.

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

Kolkata Knight Riders play at Eden Gardens. They’ve won three titles (2012, 2014 and 2024) from four finals. Ajinkya Rahane was the captain for IPL 2026.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)

For years, the story at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru was heartbreak. Royal Challengers Bengaluru lost the finals of 2009, 2011 and 2016. Then, after an 18-year wait, they won in 2025 and won again in 2026. Rajat Patidar was the captain in IPL 2026.

Delhi Capitals (DC)

Delhi Capitals started out as Delhi Daredevils and play at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. They’re still waiting for a first title. Their only final came in 2020. Axar Patel captained them in IPL 2026.

Rajasthan Royals (RR)

Rajasthan Royals won the very first IPL in 2008. They play at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur and lost the 2022 final. Riyan Parag was named captain in February 2026, and opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi topped the run charts in IPL 2026 with 776.

Punjab Kings (PBKS)

Punjab Kings were called Kings XI Punjab in the early years. They play at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium in New Chandigarh. They’ve reached two finals, in 2014 and 2025, and lost both. Shreyas Iyer was the captain in IPL 2026.

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)

Sunrisers Hyderabad arrived in 2013, after Deccan Chargers were removed, and play at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad. They won the title in 2016 and lost the finals of 2018 and 2024. Pat Cummins was the captain in IPL 2026.

Gujarat Titans (GT)

Gujarat Titans joined in 2022 and won the title in their first season. They’ve lost two finals since, in 2023 and 2026. Their home is the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Shubman Gill was the captain in IPL 2026.

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)

Lucknow Super Giants joined with Gujarat in 2022 and play at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow. They haven’t won a title or reached a final yet. Rishabh Pant was the captain in IPL 2026.

How the IPL Season Works

A season has two parts. First comes the league stage. Each of the ten teams plays 14 matches, so 70 in all, and you meet some opponents twice and others only once. A win earns 2 points. If rain washes a match out, each side gets 1. When teams finish level on points, net run rate decides who sits higher. It’s a measure of how quickly a team scores compared with how quickly it concedes.

The top four teams then go into the playoffs, which are four matches:

• Qualifier 1: First place plays second place. The winner goes straight to the final.

• Eliminator: Third place plays fourth place. The loser is out.

• Qualifier 2: The loser of Qualifier 1 plays the winner of the Eliminator. The winner goes to the final.

• Final: The winners of Qualifier 1 and Qualifier 2 play for the title.

IPL Rules Explained

The IPL follows standard T20 rules, with a few twists of its own. Any IPL betting guide should cover them, since they change how a match is played and how the odds move.

Match length. Each team bats for 20 overs. There’s a 20-minute break between the innings.

Powerplay. The first six overs are the Powerplay. Only two fielders can stand outside the 30-yard circle during that time. From the seventh over, five can.

Bowling limits. A bowler can bowl four overs at most in a full innings, so a team needs at least five bowlers to get through its 20 overs. There’s also a limit on how many short-pitched deliveries a bowler can send down in an over.

No-balls and reviews. A front-foot no-ball gives the batting team one extra run and a free hit on the next ball. On a free hit, the striker can only be dismissed in the ways the no-ball rules allow, such as run out, obstructing the field or hitting the ball twice. Teams can also challenge wides and no-balls through the Decision Review System (DRS), and from IPL 2025 ball-tracking technology helps decide height-based no-balls and wides outside off stump.

The ball and dew. Since IPL 2025, bowlers can use saliva to shine the ball. The team bowling second can also ask for one replacement ball after the 10th over, even when there’s no visible dew. The umpires hand over a ball with similar wear and tear.

Impact Player. After the toss, each team names its starting 11 and five substitutes. At an eligible point in the match, a team can bring one of those substitutes on as its Impact Player in place of someone from the 11. The player who goes off takes no further part.

Overseas players. A starting 11 can have four overseas players at most.

Super Over. If a match is tied, each team faces one over, and its innings ends after two wickets. If that’s tied too, they play another.

Rain. In a league match, the team batting second generally needs to get at least five overs for a result, though the playing conditions allow some exceptions. If a league match is abandoned with no result, each team takes one point. Playoff matches have extra provisions, including reserve days where they apply. If a playoff still can’t produce a result, the league-stage table decides who goes through.

IPL Records Worth Noting

These numbers run to the end of IPL 2026 and shift every season, so check the latest figures.

Batting is where the big names live. Virat Kohli has the most runs (9,336), with Rohit Sharma next on 7,329. Kohli also leads on centuries with nine, ahead of Jos Buttler on seven. Chris Gayle owns the sixes record with 357. His 175 not out in 2013 is still the highest score in the league, and the fastest hundred (30 balls) sits inside it. Yashasvi Jaiswal (2023) and Urvil Patel (2026) share the fastest fifty, both off 13 balls. And Kohli’s 973 runs in 2016 are still the most in a single season.

With the ball, Yuzvendra Chahal leads on 233 wickets, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar is next on 226. The best figures belong to Alzarri Joseph, who took 6/12 for Mumbai Indians in 2019 on his debut.

Team records are just as wild. Sunrisers Hyderabad hold the highest total, 287/3 in 2024. Royal Challengers Bengaluru hold the lowest, a mere 49 in 2017. The highest successful chase is Punjab Kings’ 265/4 in 2026. Chennai and Mumbai share the most titles with five each, and MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma lead the captains with five titles each.

IPL Betting Guide: The Key Markets

A betting market is the specific thing you’re betting on. “Who will win the match” is one market. “How many runs will the next over give” is another. These are the common ones:

• Match winner: You pick the winner, including a Super Over result, or you bet on a tie.

• Team totals: You bet on whether a team’s runs, in the first innings or over a set stretch of overs, finish above or below a number.

• Top batter and top bowler: You pick who scores the most runs or takes the most wickets.

• Player milestones: You bet on a batter reaching 25, 50 or 75 runs, or hitting a set number of fours.

• Over-by-over bets: In Next Over Runs, you pick whether the next over gives 0 to 3 runs or 4 or more.

• Toss: You bet on who wins the toss.

Many of these are also open while the match is on, which is called live betting. The odds change after every ball. To see how it works, have a look at the live cricket betting markets on Arena365.

Your IPL Betting Guide to How Odds Work

Odds show how likely the market thinks an outcome is, and how much you’ll get back if you’re right. Arena365 shows decimal odds. You multiply your stake by the odds, and that gives your total return, with your stake included.

Say Team A is at 1.85, Team B is at 2.00, and you bet ₹2,000. If Team A wins, you get back ₹3,700 (₹2,000 x 1.85), a profit of ₹1,700. If Team B wins, you get back ₹4,000 (₹2,000 x 2.00), a profit of ₹2,000. Team B pays more because the market sees them as slightly less likely to win. As a rule of thumb, odds below 2.00 point to a favourite and odds above 2.00 to an underdog.

IPL Betting Tips

No single thing decides a T20 match, so use the six tips in this IPL betting guide together.

Watch the Powerplay and the last four overs. A T20 innings is short, and most of it is settled in two bursts. In the first six overs only two fielders are out in the deep, so batters go hard, and a team can race ahead or lose wickets early. The last four overs are the same story, with little time left and everyone swinging. The odds can jump in both phases. Find out which teams start fast and which ones finish strongly before you bet.

Check the toss and the dew. Winning the toss decides who bats first, and in night games that matters a lot. As the evening goes on, dew settles on the grass and the ball gets wet. Bowlers, spinners especially, find it hard to grip. The team batting second often gains from this. Bowlers can ask for a fresh ball after the 10th over, which helps a little, so look at how recent night matches at that ground have gone. Once you’ve read the ground and the conditions, the rest comes down to the five choices you make before every cricket bet, from the match to the market and the stake. 

Look at the ground. No two IPL grounds play alike. Some have short boundaries and flat pitches, and big totals are common there. Others help the bowlers or slow down as the match goes on. Before you back a team total or a winner, check what scores have been normal at that ground lately. Also check whether the side batting first or second has been winning there.

Think about the Impact Player. Teams name their 11 and five substitutes after the toss, and then they can swap one player during the match. A team chasing a big total can bring in an extra batter. A team defending one can bring in an extra bowler. The 11 you see at the toss isn’t always the side that finishes the game, so check the substitutes before you place a totals or player bet.

Use recent form, not team names. A famous team can hit a bad patch, and a less fancied one can be flying. Look at the last few matches, not the badge on the shirt. For player bets, see how many runs or wickets that player has had lately, and where he bats or when he bowls.

Keep your stakes small. T20 moves fast, and one over can turn a match. Bets can’t be cancelled or edited once they’re accepted. Pick a stake you’re comfortable losing, go smaller on live bets, and never raise it to chase a loss.

How IPL Betting on Arena365 Works

Open arena365.com in your phone or laptop browser. There’s no app or APK to download. Log in with your phone number and the code you receive, add money to your wallet with the + sign at the top, and choose cricket under the sports section.

Pick an IPL match under In-Play/ Live or Upcoming, tap View All Markets, choose your market, enter your stake and confirm. The lowest stake preset is ₹100. Do the reading first. This IPL betting guide has the teams, rules and records, so once you’re in, you’ll know what you’re looking at.

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