Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) skipper David Warner won the race for the orange cap by finishing just 22 runs ahead of Rajasthan Royal's Ajinkya Rahane and Mumbai Indian's Lendl Simmons.
Warner, despite not playing in the playoff rounds, had surmounted an impressive tally of 562 runs in this year's IPL and looked all set to secure the orange cap with ease as his closest competitors were knocked out before the final. The only one who could beat him to the punch was Lendl Simmons, who came very close to overtaking the Australian batsman.
Simmons ended his campaign in third place with 540 runs equaling the tally of RR's Rahane. Rahane finished second because of a better high score.
RCB stars AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively and they all had a chance to overtake Warner in their last match but failed to do so, while Rajasthan Royals' Ajinkya Rahane was also knocked out of the race after his team were eliminated by Bangalore on May 20.
DOWN TO THE WIRE
Chennai Super Kings’ players Ashish Nehra and D Bravo celebrate. Bravo won the Purple cap with 26 wickets. (PTI Photo)
The race for the Purple Cap went right down to the wire as both the top contenders, Chennai Super King's Dwayne Bravo and Mumbai Indian's Lasith Malinga, played head to head in the final.
{{/usCountry}}The race for the Purple Cap went right down to the wire as both the top contenders, Chennai Super King's Dwayne Bravo and Mumbai Indian's Lasith Malinga, played head to head in the final.
{{/usCountry}}But Dwayne Bravo came out on top, finishing with 26 wickets, two ahead of Malinga's 24.
Both the stalwarts took two wickets each in the final in which the Mumbai Indians came out on top.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore's Yuzvendra Chahal finished third with 23 wickets and CSK's Ashish Nehra finished fourth with 22.
RCB's Australian fast bowler - Mitchell Starc finished fifth with 20 wickets.