Bhuvneshwar leads IPL 2026 Purple Cap table after fifth three-for of the season
There was no change in the top three of the Orange Cap table, but Virat Kohli consolidated his place at No. 4 and Shubman Gill moved past KL Rahul to No. 5
ESPNcricinfo staff
Published: Apr 30, 2026, 6:04 PM
Bhuvneshwar Kumar finished with 3 for 28 • BCCI
Both Gujarat Titans (GT) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have a number of players in the running for the Orange and Purple Caps at IPL 2026. After their game on Thursday, some of those contenders made big moves, while many others faltered.
It’s purple before orange today, and that’s because RCB’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar has climbed – or zoomed – to the top of the wicket-takers’ table with his fifth three-wicket haul of the season, back-to-back ones at that.
His 3 for 28 has taken Bhuvneshwar’s tally to 17. That’s two clear of second-placed Eshan Malinga of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), who has 15 wickets, but is in action on Sunday, and can reclaim his lost cap.
GT’s pace-bowling frontman Kagiso Rabada had a shot at getting where Bhuvneshwar has, but he picked up just the one wicket in the game, and is tied in third place, with 14 wickets, with Jofra Archer of Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Anshul Kamboj of Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
Nothing dramatic happened here, and that’s because Virat Kohli scored 28, Shubman Gill 43 – good, but not good enough for the purposes of this exercise – and B Sai Sudharsan got just 6.
That meant Wednesday night’s 1-2-3 of Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klaasen and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (SRH, SRH and RR respectively) retained their spots – and are also the only ones to have scored 400 runs so far – and Kohli stayed at No. 4 with 379. Gill did move up to fifth, though, past KL Rahul of Delhi Capitals (DC).
