Orange Cap in IPL 2026

Shubman Gill has surged back into the Orange Cap race after his fluent 84-run knock against Rajasthan Royals in a high-intensity clash on Saturday. The Gujarat Titans skipper once again led from the front, taking his season tally to 462 runs in 10 matches and strengthening his position among the leading run-getters.

Rajasthan’s teenage star Vaibhav Sooryavanshi also climbed back into the top five after a brisk 36-run effort, moving to fifth place with 440 runs. At the top of the chart, Heinrich Klaasen continues to hold the Orange Cap with 494 runs, while Abhishek Sharma (475) and KL Rahul (468) remain close behind in a tightly contested race for the top spot.

The IPL Orange Cap is awarded to the player who ends the season with the most runs in the tournament. Awarded since the inception of the IPL all the way back in 2008, the Orange Cap is one of the most coveted individual awards in cricket. Winning it grants you headlines and popularity, but more importantly, highlights the importance of these batters to their teams as they strike a vein of form and pile on the runs.

The Orange Cap has been won by some of the most historic players in world cricket over the last 20 years – think Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, and David Warner. Some races for the Orange Cap prove to be heated and competitive right down to the wire, while others end up being a one-horse race, which highlights a player’s dominance in that year.

In IPL 2026, names like Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli will headline the favourites to win the award at the end of the tournament, but plucky up-and-comers like Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal will also like their chances. The reigning holder of the IPL 2025 Orange Cap is Sai Sudharsan’s, whose impressive performances last season even earned him a nod for an Indian Test cap – such is the impact of the Orange Cap.

History of the IPL Orange Cap

The very first Orange Cap award went to Australia’s Shaun Marsh, who scored 616 runs in the inaugural season for Kings XI Punjab and held off players like current Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir.

Sachin Tendulkar won the Orange Cap in 2010 and was followed by Chris Gayle winning it back-to-back during his sensational start to life in Bengaluru.

Between 2015 and 2019, David Warner won the Orange Cap every alternate year, becoming the player who has won the Orange Cap most often in the history of the IPL, with three of them to his name.

The most runs in a single IPL season belong to Virat Kohli, who hammered his historic 973-run season in 2016 – still the peak of any batter in the IPL. It was an incredible year for run-scoring, with David Warner also scoring 800+ runs and AB de Villiers hammering 648, which would have all been enough for the Orange Cap in many other seasons.

The most thrilling Orange Cap race might have been the 2021 season, in which Ruturaj Gaikwad announced himself to the world with a 635-run performance for the Chennai Super Kings. But it was a race that went right down to the wire against his very own teammate Faf du Plessis: the South African opener finished on 633 runs, just two behind Gaikwad, not quite managing to catch up after he scored a sensational 86 in that year’s final.

IPL Orange Cap statistics

The only team from the original eight IPL teams never to have a representative on the IPL Orange Cap winners list is the Delhi Capitals franchise. They have been close in 2008, when Gautam Gambhir finished runner-up, and again in 2018, when Rishabh Pant’s incredible season still fell short of Kane Williamson.

The teams with the most Orange Cap wins are Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Sunrisers Hyderabad, each of whom have seen players win the ultimate award on four occasions. Gayle and Kohli split RCB’s wins, while Warner’s three are joined by Williamson’s season – SRH winning the award four times out of five seasons in the period between 2015 and 2019.

The team with the most different Orange Cap winners for their franchise is CSK, which has seen Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey, and Ruturaj Gaikwad each win the title in three seasons.

In the IPL’s 18 seasons, Indian players have won the Orange Cap on eight occasions, while overseas players have their noses slightly ahead with 10 wins. However, the last three Orange Cap winners have all been Indian batters, pointing towards India’s success and dominance on the international stage.

List of IPL Orange Cap winners

2008 — Shaun Marsh (KXIP), 616 runs

2009 — Matthew Hayden (CSK), 572 runs

2010 — Sachin Tendulkar (MI), 618 runs

2011 — Chris Gayle (RCB), 608 runs

2012 — Chris Gayle (RCB), 733 runs

2013 — Michael Hussey (CSK), 733 runs

2014 — Robin Uthappa (KKR), 660 runs

2015 — David Warner (SRH), 562 runs

2016 — Virat Kohli (RCB), 973 runs

2017 — David Warner (SRH), 641 runs

2018 — Kane Williamson (SRH), 735 runs

2019 — David Warner (SRH), 692 runs

2020 — KL Rahul (KXIP), 670 runs

2021 — Ruturaj Gaikwad (CSK), 635 runs

2022 — Jos Buttler (RR), 863 runs

2023 — Shubman Gill (GT), 890 runs

2024 — Virat Kohli (RCB), 741 runs

2025 — Sai Sudharsan (GT), 759 runs