If you scan through the fastest Powerplay scorers in the current cycle of IPL, the usual suspects pop up quickly: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Priyansh Arya and Abhishek Sharma among others. The surprise entrant is Josh Inglis. Among the 32 batters to have faced 100-plus balls in the first six overs since 2025 - Inglis' debut IPL season - his strike rate of 203.73 is second only to Sooryavanshi's 230.73. Despite his limited availability in the season and a surfeit of overseas batting options, Lucknow Super Giants spent INR 8.60 crore on Inglis because of the range he brings to the lineup.
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Maximising the Powerplay has become essential in the IPL. Once the limited window of attack closes out, bowlers try to funnel batters into pockets they want them to hit to with boundary riders stationed. Inglis is difficult to contain because he scores across the 360 degrees of the ground. Since IPL 2025, 21% of his runs have come in the 'V' behind the wicket, well above the tournament average of 12.7%, exploiting an area in the field often left vacant with only two boundary riders allowed in the first six.
If teams shut down that option, Inglis has answers elsewhere too. His 33-ball 85 at Chepauk, 77 of which came in the Powerplay, was a demonstration of that range. Akeal Hosein began with deep extra cover and deep midwicket as boundary riders. Inglis lofted one straight and followed it with a slog sweep off a trademark Hosein in-drifter aerially over square leg, forcing a field change. Hosein shortened the length and was met with a pull from his low base through wide mid-on to close the over, his fast hands coming into play.
Mukesh Choudhary found movement against Mitchell Marsh in the next over before a misfield brought Inglis on strike. The first ball disappeared over vacant third man via reverse scoop for six. Anshul Kamboj was meted out a similar treatment the following over. Back against Mukesh, Inglis stayed leg side off the ball to open up the off-side ring for another boundary before producing a third reverse scoop next ball. Three reverse scoops in the Powerplay, the first time a batter attempted as many that early in IPL.
Once third man went back and long-on came in, Inglis went straight instead, showing the full extent of his hitting range. Hosein returned in the fifth over with protection on the leg-side boundary, but Inglis moved around the crease to pierce wide long-off, bringing up a 17-ball fifty. He followed it with an inside-out drive over extra cover, this time demonstrating his fleet footedness.
Inglis' willingness to play 'unorthodox' shots makes him stand out in the IPL. Since 2025, he has deployed them to 16.5% of the balls, comfortably ahead of the second-placed Prabhsimran Singh at 12.4%, while scoring at an optimal strike rate of 229.62 off those shots, reverse scoop being his favourite.
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Note: Unorthodox shots include reverse sweep, late cut, scoop, switch hit, reverse scoop, reverse ramp, and upper cut.
Yet, for all the audacity and range Inglis showcased at Chepauk, his innings still ended up on the losing side of a familiar story for LSG - a middle-overs slowdown undoing early advancement. In contrast, Urvil Patel arrived at similar levels of destruction through almost opposite methods, scoring only 1.5% of his runs behind the wicket and preferring brute force straight down the ground.
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