Bhuvneshwar edges ahead with four-for leap in IPL 2026 Purple Cap race

Bhuvneshwar Kumar moved to the top of the IPL 2026 Purple Cap standings after claiming a four-wicket haul.

Purple Cap leaderboard shifts Sunday’s double-header at IPL 2026 reshaped the Purple Cap race, with most changes appearing on the wicket-takers’ list rather than the run-scorers’. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, a back-to-back Purple Cap winner in 2016 and 2017, continues to dominate despite turning 36 and missing the majority of the previous season. His performance against Mumbai Indians (MI) delivered a match-winning four wickets for 23 runs, marking his sixth three-wicket haul of the campaign and first four-for of the year, lifting his season tally to 21 scalps. The dismissal spree came after Kagiso Rabada reached 18 wickets on Saturday, while Anshul Kamboj’s two wickets for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) briefly placed him at the summit with 19 wickets before Bhuvneshwar reclaimed the lead. ## Current Purple Cap standings Bhuvneshwar leads the Purple Cap race, trailed by Anshul Kamboj, who sits second on 19 wickets. Kagiso Rabada follows in third with 18 dismissals. Two bowlers share fourth place with 16 wickets each: Prince Yadav of LSG, who went wicketless on Sunday, and Eshan Malinga of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). The next pair, Rashid Khan of Gujarat Titans (GT) and Jofra Archer of Rajasthan Royals (RR), each have 15 wickets to their name. ## Orange Cap remains unchanged Virat Kohli’s two-ball duck against MI extended his run drought, adding to a first-ball duck against LSG earlier, which kept him locked in tenth place with 379 runs—identical to his tally on April 30. The top ten of the Orange Cap table stayed intact as a result. Heinrich Klaasen of SRH tops the list with 494 runs, while teammate Abhishek Sharma holds second place on 475. KL Rahul of Delhi Capitals (DC) remains third with 468 runs. Shubman Gill of GT, who struck 84 against RR on Saturday, is fourth with 462 runs, and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi of RR completes the top five on 440 runs. ## Middle-order run-scorers hold positions Between Kohli and the top five are GT’s B Sai Sudharsan, CSK’s Sanju Samson who posted 28 against LSG, SRH’s Ishan Kishan, and MI opener Ryan Rickelton, whose tally failed to rise after scoring just 2 against RCB. Samson’s 28 kept him ahead of the chasing pack, while Rickelton’s low score prevented any upward movement in the standings.