Sai Sudharsan and Gill lead IPL 2026 Orange Cap race; Rabada joint-topper on Purple Cap table
Three Gujarat Titans bowlers returned three-wicket hauls against Chennai Super Kings, and all of them made serious moves up the Purple Cap table
ESPNcricinfo staff
Published: May 22, 2026, 1:48 AM (6 hrs ago)
It’s all Gujarat Titans (GT) at the top of the Orange Cap leaderboard, and quite a bit of GT at the top of the wicket-takers’ table too at the end of their 89-run demolition of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Ahmedabad on Thursday in IPL 2026.
Shubman Gill got there first, his 64 in 37 balls lifting him to 616 runs for the season. He had started the game on 552 runs to his opening partner B Sai Sudharsan‘s 554, little to separate them there. So as Gill outscored Sai Sudharsan in their 125-run opening stand, the Orange Cap went to him.
By the end of Sai Sudharsan’s stay in the middle, though, Gill was back in second place and Sai Sudharsan was on top, his 84 in 53 balls lifting him to No. 1 with 638 runs.
So GT, GT, and then Rajasthan Royals (RR), with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi at No. 3 with 579 runs, followed by Mitchell Marsh of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) with 563 and Heinrich Klaasen of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) rounding off the top five with 555.
It’s not impossible that everything changes again on Friday night, with SRH hosting RCB. That means Klaasen will get a chance to add to his tally, as will RCB’s Virat Kohli, who is currently at No. 6 with 542 runs, and the SRH pair of Abhishek Sharma, at No. 8 with 507 runs and Ishan Kishan, one spot lower with 490.
RCB quick Bhuvneshwar Kumar looked like he had gone too far ahead of the pack, but GT’s Kagiso Rabada returned 3 for 32 against CSK to tie with Bhuvneshwar at the top of the table with 24 wickets. Bhuvneshwar, though, has an economy rate of 7.70 compared to Rabada’s 9.18, meaning the Purple Cap stays with him. And he can add to his haul against SRH on Friday.
Rabada came to the GT party late on Thursday, though. He had one wicket to Mohammed Siraj‘s three in CSK’s 63 for 5 by the end of the seventh over. Siraj hasn’t really been in contention for the Purple Cap this season, but the three-for lifted his tally to 17 for the season, and the seventh spot on the table.
Two other bowlers made dashes inside the top four of the table: Anshul Kamboj picked up the wicket of Sai Sudharsan to get to 21, and the third spot, while Rashid Khan became the third GT bowler with a three-for on the night, and that took him to No. 4 with 19 wickets. RR’s Jofra Archer and Kartik Tyagi of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are between the top four and Siraj, with 18 wickets each.
