NEW DELHI: We are almost halfway through the league stage of IPL 2026, with 33 of the total 70 matches done and dusted. Slowly but surely, fit players are starting to emerge from the horde of cricketers competing in this highly competitive tournament.The race for the season’s leading run-scorer and leading wicket-taker (the orange cap and the purple cap) is making for some exciting and interesting competitions.
After the IPL ‘Classic’ between Mumbai Indians and five-time champions Chennai Super Kings on Thursday, CSK pacer Anshul Kamboj regained the Purple Cap with 14 scalps in seven games. The young pacer, who returned figures of 1/10, is now one wicket ahead of second-placed Lucknow Super Giants pacer Prince Yadav, who has 13 wickets in seven matches.CSK won the ‘Classic’ by a whopping 103 runs, thanks to a formidable total of 207/6, boosted by a magnificent unbeaten century by Player of the Match Sanju Samson (101* off 54 balls). It was CSK’s new recruit’s second hundred of IPL 2026, after his unbeaten 115 against Delhi Capitals at home in Chennai.With two centuries, Samson jumped straight into the Orange Cap race and is now in third place with 293 runs in seven games. The list is currently headed by two Sunrisers Hyderabad batsmen: Abhishek Sharma (323 runs in seven games) and Heinrich Klaasen (320 runs in seven games).
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Gujarat Titans captain Shubman Gill (fourth with 265 runs) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Virat Kohli (sixth with 247 runs) will get a chance to move up the Orange Cap rankings when the two teams meet in Bengaluru on Friday.Among the bowlers taking part in today’s RCB vs GT clash, Gujarat Titans pacer Prasidh Krishna (fourth with 12 wickets), RCB’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar (seventh with 10 wickets) and GT’s Kagiso Rabada (eighth with 10 wickets) will also get a chance to move up the Purple Cap rankings.
Here is the current Top 5 in the Orange Cap and Purple Cap races
IPL 2026 Orange Cap:
| Range | Player | Runs | SA | MR | 100s/50s |
| 1 | Abhishek Sharma (SRH) | 323 | 135* | 215.33 | 1/2 |
| 2 | Heinrich Klaasen (SRH) | 320 | 62 | 153.11 | 0/3 |
| 3 | Sanju Samson (CSK) | 293 | 115* | 178.65 | 2/0 |
| 4 | Shubman Gill (GT) | 265 | 86 | 151.42 | 0/3 |
| 5 | Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (RR) | 254 | 78 | 220.86 | 0/2 |
IPL 2026 Purple Cap:
| Range | Player | windows | Better | economy |
| 1 | Anshul Kamboj (CSK) | 14 | 3/22 | 8.95 |
| 2 | Prince Yadav (LSG) | 13 | 3/32 | 8.38 |
| 3 | Eshan Malinga (SRH) | 12 | 4/32 | 9.43 |
| 4 | Prasidh Krishna (GT) | 12 | 4/28 | 9.91 |
| 5 | Jofra Archer (RR) | 11 | 3/20 | 7.96 |
