Plenty of excitement is building at the summit of the Purple Cap standings in IPL 2026, with the race tightening after Chennai Super Kings (CSK) got the better of Mumbai Indians (MI) at Chepauk on Friday night.
Purple Cap leaderboard
Bhuvneshwar Kumar looked like he might be pulling away from the chasing pack after reaching 17 wickets, even though Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) suffered defeat against Gujarat Titans (GT) on Thursday. However, Anshul Kamboj wasted little time closing the gap following a longer-than-usual break between matches for CSK.
CSK’s previous outing had come on April 26, and Kamboj had gone wicketless then—his first such match of the season. He bounced back immediately by taking three wickets versus MI, which lifted his tally to 17. That means he is level with Bhuvneshwar on wickets, but Bhuvneshwar retains the lead in the Purple Cap because of a better economy rate, 7.54 compared to Kamboj’s 8.49.
Close behind them, completing the top five, are Jofra Archer (Rajasthan Royals) and Eshan Malinga (Sunrisers Hyderabad), both on 15 wickets. Gujarat Titans’ Kagiso Rabada follows with 14. At this point in the tournament, six more bowlers have already reached double figures in wickets.
Orange Cap leaderboard
Sanju Samson had a tough day with the bat, making only 11, yet he remains the highest-ranked among CSK and MI batters. He sits at No. 9, having moved ahead of SRH’s Ishan Kishan.
The eight players listed above them have not shifted: KL Rahul of Delhi Capitals (DC) continues to lead with 433 runs. Abhishek Sharma (SRH) is next on 425, followed by Heinrich Klaasen (414) and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (404) of Rajasthan Royals, the other batters who have already crossed the 400-run mark. Virat Kohli (RCB) has 379, Shubman Gill (GT) is on 373, while B Sai Sudharsan (328) and Prabhsimran Singh of Punjab Kings (PBKS) have 346—these four occupy the positions between the leaders and Samson.
