Bhuvneshwar leads Purple Cap race; Kohli climbs up Orange Cap list
RCB quick grabbed 3 for 5 against DC, before Kohli moved up to No. 4 among run-getters
ESPNcricinfo staff
Published: Apr 28, 2026, 1:17 AM
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) bowled Delhi Capitals (DC) out for 75 in their IPL 2026 contest on Monday. As a result of their field day with the ball, there was was a new leader in the Purple Cap table. There was movement in the Orange Cap standings as well, despite an aggregate of just 152 runs in the match.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar finished with figures of 3-0-5-3 against DC, with all three wickets coming in the powerplay, as RCB crushed DC with nine wickets and 81 balls to spare. As a result, Bhuvneshwar now leads the Purple Cap race. Like Anshul Kamboj and Eshan Malinga, Bhuvneshwar also has 14 wickets. But his average of 16.85 helps him scrape him past Kamboj (16.92) and Malinga (18.21).
RCB’s left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya bagged one wicket against DC to enter the top ten of the wicket-takers’ list. He has nine wickets, the same as Kartik Tyagi, Jamie Overton and Vaibhav Arora, but at a better average of 26.55.
Josh Hazlewood joined Bhuvneshwar in grabbing three wickets in the powerplay against DC, thus reducing them to a record IPL low of 13 for 6 in the powerplay. He grabbed one more wicket later to end with 3.3-0-12-4 to double his wickets tally to eight, sitting just below Arora at 14th position.
Virat Kohli passed 9000 IPL runs while scoring 23* during RCB’s modest chase of 76 in Delhi. That contribution also pushed him up to No. 4 in the Orange Cap list, with 351 runs at an average of 58.50. Kohli is only six runs behind Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who, in turn, is just one short of KL Rahul. The DC opener scored 1 against RCB, but that was enough for him to cross Sooryavanshi and move up to No. 2, with 358 runs at 51.14.
The Orange Cap race continues to be led by SRH’s opener Abhishek Sharma, who has 380 runs at an average of 54.28.
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