New Delhi, 27 April (H.S.): The 26th of April in IPL 2026 turned out to be a bowlers’ day, with a total of 26 wickets falling across two matches, including a Super Over, reshaping the race for the Purple Cap and the Orange Cap. Among the standout performers, Kagiso Rabada’s three‑wicket haul helped Gujarat Titans notch an eight‑wicket win over Chennai Super Kings, moving him into joint‑third place in the Purple Cap list.

On a moist Chepauk pitch, extra assistance for the quicks worked perfectly for Rabada. The South African pacer bowled four overs, conceded 25 runs and picked up three wickets, using pace and extra bounce to keep the CSK batters under constant pressure. That spell took his tournament tally to 13 wickets in 8 matches, putting him tied on wickets with the pair at the top, who remain ahead on the chart.

On the Purple Cap leaderboard, Anshul Kamboj and Ishan Malinga still lead with 14 wickets each, while Rabada shares third spot with another bowler on 13 scalps. The margin between the leading wicket‑takers is now razor‑thin, with each match likely to trigger fresh shifts in the rankings.

If the day belonged to bowlers earlier, by evening the batters’ chart had been completely rewritten. Virat Kohli, who had been on top till the previous match, slipped down to fifth place within 24 hours as multiple high‑scoring innings pushed fresh names into the lead.

In Delhi, KL Rahul hammered an unbeaten 152, the highest twenty‑over score by an Indian batter in T20 history, and jumped to 357 runs to seize the Orange Cap. However, in Jaipur, youngster Vaibhav Sooryavanshi blazed an explosive 103 off 37 balls, equalling Rahul on 357 runs, but edged ahead briefly on strike rate to wear the Orange Cap by virtue of a more aggressive knock.

Shortly after, Abhishek Sharma followed up with a brutal 57 off 29 balls, taking his season‑aggregate to 380 runs and catapulting himself to No. 1 on the Orange Cap list. Sooryavanshi and Rahul sit next on 357 runs each, with Heinrich Klaasen (349), Shubman Gill (330) and Virat Kohli (328) completing the top six, making the race for the Orange Cap one of the tightest and most exciting of the season so far.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar