Gujarat Titans and Royal Challengers Bengaluru currently have several players battling for the Orange and Purple Caps in IPL 2026, and Thursday’s action reshuffled the race in a big way for some, while leaving others stuck in neutral. The latest results have underlined how quickly wicket charts and run tallies can move when bowlers hit form and batters stay consistent.
Purple Cap
The Purple Cap picture tilted in RCB’s favour first, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar making a decisive jump to the summit of the wicket-takers’ table. He produced his fifth three-wicket haul of the season, including consecutive spells of that kind, and the impact was immediate—his figures of 3 for 28 moved his season total to 17 wickets. That lead is now two clear of the second-placed wicket-taker, Eshan Malinga of Sunrisers Hyderabad, who sits on 15 wickets and will be in action on Sunday, giving him a chance to reclaim ground.
Meanwhile, GT’s lead pace bowler Kagiso Rabada had a realistic opportunity to close the gap, but the match didn’t quite fall his way. He managed only one wicket and therefore remains tied in third place with 14 wickets alongside Jofra Archer of Rajasthan Royals and Anshul Kamboj of Chennai Super Kings.
Orange Cap
On the batting front, there wasn’t much drama in the Orange Cap standings, and the reason was fairly straightforward: Virat Kohli made 28, Shubman Gill contributed 43, and B Sai Sudharsan managed only 6. Even with those scores, nothing substantial changed at the top, as the overall shape of the top run-getters continued to hold.
Wednesday night’s top three order—Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klaasen and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi—kept their positions, and the trio remains the only group to have crossed the 400-run mark so far. Kohli also held steady at number four, sitting on 379 runs. Gill did make a move upward to fifth place, overtaking KL Rahul of Delhi Capitals in the process.
Tournament MVP
Best batting strike-rates
Most catches
Most 50+ scores
