Saturday’s IPL 2026 double-header was a reminder of just how heavily the format tilts in favour of batters. First, Punjab Kings chased down 264 against Delhi Capitals, and later in the evening, Sunrisers Hyderabad completed a remarkable run chase of 229 against Rajasthan Royals. With scores like these becoming more common, bowlers had little room for error.

KL Rahul’s unbeaten 152 for DC ended up in a losing cause, even though he played one of the finest knocks of the season. For PBKS, Prabhsimran Singh and Shreyas Iyer led the charge with rapid half-centuries. In the second game, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s sensational century for RR also proved insufficient, as SRH countered through half-centuries from Ishan Kishan and Abhishek Sharma to seal the chase.

Former India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin said the day summed up the reality of modern T20 cricket: bowlers will be hit, and often. But according to him, the answer is not panic. It is discipline, smarter fields, and the willingness to keep bowling quality deliveries even as the pressure mounts.

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“It was disappointing to watch from a bowler’s perspective,” Ravichandran Ashwin said. “You are going to be taken for runs in T20. No two ways about it, but when all your bowlers try to control the flow of runs in their overs, that team becomes very hard to beat.”

He added that too many bowlers still enter the game chasing wickets instead of building pressure with controlled plans.

“Defensive, constructive bowling is what will give you wickets,” Ravichandran Ashwin said. He also stressed that modern T20 cricket is built for batters, and bowlers must accept that runs will come even off good balls. “T20 is designed for batters. If you want a contest between bat and ball, there is Test cricket for that,” he said.

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Ravichandran Ashwin further argued that smaller grounds make the challenge even tougher, and bowlers must be ready to adapt with multiple plans rather than relying on one approach. “Bowl good balls, but be prepared to get hit,” he concluded.