Rabada rises to No. 3 on Purple Cap table; Abhishek takes back Orange Cap
It was a bad day for many of the top run-getters in IPL 2026, with the two games on Sunday producing low-scoring contests
ESPNcricinfo staff
Published: May 4, 2026, 1:38 AM (4 hrs ago)
Kagiso Rabada was breathing fire with the new ball in hand • BCCI
There’s a change at the top of the Orange Cap table, and a fast-moving wicket-taker is up to No. 3 on the Purple Cap table at IPL 2026 at the end of the Sunday double-header, where the favourites – Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) – lost to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Gujarat Titans (GT) respectively.
The gaps are so small at the top of the Orange Cap table that even if you don’t do particularly well, like Abhishek Sharma against KKR, you can cause big changes. Abhishek scored just 15, but that was enough to take a seven-run lead over KL Rahul of Delhi Capitals (DC) and claim back the No. 1 spot.
With Heinrich Klaasen also missing his opportunity, Rahul is safe at No. 2 at the moment, with 433 runs (Abhishek has 440). Klaasen got 11 against KKR and has 425 runs. Followed by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi of Rajasthan Royals (RR) with 404, and then a new entrant in the top five: B Sai Sudharsan, the GT opener, continued his recent surge with a 41-ball 57 to get to 385 runs.
Shubman Gill, Prabhsimran Singh, Jos Buttler and Shreyas Iyer didn’t get a lot of runs on Sunday either, but Ishan Kishan did, 42 of them, and moved to the ninth spot with 354 runs, while Travis Head also continued his recent rise, his 61 off 28 balls lifting him to 12th
Kagiso Rabada has picked up 12 wickets in his last six matches now, and moved up quickly to get to No. 3 with 16 wickets, just one behind the leaders, Bhuvneshwar Kumar of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Anshul Kamboj of Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
Prasidh Krishna had to sit out again, Eshan Malinga didn’t get a wicket, Rashid Khan got just one, but Mohammed Siraj and Kartik Tyagi had good days, picking up two wickets each, and that took their tallies for the season to 11, well behind the leaders, but in the top ten.
