Gujarat Titans’ South African pacer Kagiso Rabada won the IPL 2026 Purple Cap award after taking 29 wickets in 17 matches.
The Purple Cap is awarded to the leading wicket-taker of the season, making it one of the most coveted individual accolades in the Indian Premier League.
Rabada is the third Gujarat Titans bowlers in five seasons to win a Purple Cap after Mohammed Shami (2023) and Prasidh Krishna (2025).
Kagiso Rabada, who finished ahead of RCB‘s Bhuvneshwar Kumar to win the top honour in 2026, also won the Purple Cap in 2020 but with Delhi Capitals.
The best bowling figures for the IPL 2026 season was registered by Lucknow Super Giants’ Mohsin Khan, who scalped 5/23 against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Ekana Cricket Stadium. It was the only fifer of the season.
The IPL 2026 season also witnessed several top bowling performances.
In the Delhi Capitals vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru match, Josh Hazlewood (4/12) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/5) shared seven wickets between them to bowl out DC for 75, one of the lowest IPL scores.
Hazlewood and Kumar had reduced Delhi Capitals to 13/6 in six overs at one stage, the lowest powerplay score in IPL in a full game.
Meanwhile, Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Praful Hinge marked his IPL debut in stunning fashion against Rajasthan Royals, becoming the first bowler in the tournament’s history to claim three wickets in the opening over of an innings.
Since its introduction in the inaugural Indian Premier League season in 2008, the IPL Purple Cap has been claimed by some of the finest bowlers in world cricket.
The first recipient of the honour was Sohail Tanvir, who picked up 22 wickets in 11 matches for Rajasthan Royals during their title-winning campaign in 2008.
Over the years, elite T20 specialists such as Lasith Malinga and Dwayne Bravo have featured among Purple Cap winners.
In terms of standout individual seasons, Bravo and Harshal Patel share the record for most wickets in a single IPL edition, with 32 each in 2013 and 2021, respectively.
While Harshal achieved the feat in 15 matches for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2021, Bravo had registered the same tally in 18 games for Chennai Super Kings in 2013.
Apart from them, Kagiso Rabada is the only other bowler to breach the 30-wicket mark in a season, finishing with 30 wickets in 17 matches for Delhi Capitals in 2020.
Bravo, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel are the only players to have won the Purple Cap multiple times with each managing to claim the top honour twice.
Bravo secured both his wins with CSK in 2013 and 2015, while Harshal added a second in 2024 with PBKS after his 2021 triumph with RCB.
Bhuvneshwar remains the only bowler to win the award in consecutive seasons, achieving the feat with Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016 and 2017.
Only three players in IPL history – Sohail Tanvir (2008), RP Singh (2009) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2016) – have won both the Purple Cap and the IPL title in the same season, representing Rajasthan Royals, Deccan Chargers and Sunrisers Hyderabad, respectively.
Across 19 completed seasons, Indian bowlers have claimed the Purple Cap 10 times, while South African players have won it on four occasions.
RP Singh, a member of India’s inaugural T20 World Cup-winning squad, was the first bowler from the country to earn the honour after taking 23 wickets in 16 matches for Deccan Chargers in 2009.
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