Sanju's CSK heroics aside, IPL 2026 was least productive season for Kerala cricket in a decade

Malayalis will fondly remember the recently concluded IPL season for Sanju Samson's famous switch to Chennai Super Kings and the two centuries he scored in yellow.

But while Sanju's dashing entry as the new 'thala' of CSK is something to be treasured, it is hard to overlook the fact that the recent season was the least productive for Kerala cricket in at least a decade of IPL.

Since the 2016 edition, at least two Kerala players have played a minimum of two matches in an IPL season. But that pattern was broken in IPL 2026.

Aside from Sanju, no other Kerala cricketer made a noticeable impact. Punjab Kings' Kerala opener Vishnu Vinod made a small contribution by featuring as an impact substitute in the No 8 batting position in one match. He made 15 runs off 8 balls. With Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya holding on to Punjab's opening roles, it was always going to be tough for Vishnu to get a look in.

The biggest upset was not getting a glimpse of spinner Vignesh Puthur, who had a breakout debut season with the Mumbai Indians last year, claiming six wickets.

But his switch to the Rajasthan Royals did not prove to be quite as impactful as he was unused throughout the campaign. It must be noted that Vignesh faced tough competition from Ravindra Jadeja, Ravi Bishnoi and young spinner Yash Raj Punja.

In IPL 2016, Sanju scored some memorable runs for a Delhi franchise, including a high score of 60. In the same season, former Kerala captain Sachin Baby had his best IPL campaign, scoring 119 runs from six innings for RCB.

In 2017, four Kerala players played in the IPL. One of them, pacer Basil Thampi, had his best IPL run, with 11 wickets, including a best of 3/29 for Gujarat.

The 2018 season of IPL saw pacers K M Asif and Basil Thampi bag at least eight wickets between them. That was also the first IPL season in which Sanju scored more than 400 runs, with a high score of 92.

While Sanju has grown with each IPL season, no other Kerala player has produced consistent performances. An increase in the level of competitiveness in domestic cricket and the lack of a Kerala-based franchise are seen as reasons for Kerala cricketers not getting valuable minutes in the IPL.