Rajasthan Royals’ Vaibhav Sooryavanshi won race for the Orange Cap in IPL 2026 after a memorable season.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi finished as the leading run-scorer in the IPL 2026 with 776 from 16 matches.
The teenager scored one century and five fifties over the course of the campaign.
His highest score of 103 came against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the league stage. Vaibhav also scored three ninety-plus scores in the season, two of which came in the playoffs.
At just 15 years old, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi also became the youngest player to ever win the IPL Orange Cap, surpassing the previous record set by Gujarat Titans’ Sai Sudharsan last season.
The Orange Cap is awarded to the highest run-scorer of the season, making it one of the most prestigious individual accolades in the Indian Premier League.
The season produced a string of standout batting performances, including 15 centuries.
Chennai Super Kings opener Sanju Samson became the first batter to score an IPL century this season. Vaibhav scored the fastest of the tournament, reaching three figures in just 36 balls against SRH.
DC’s KL Rahul scored the highest individual score this season – an unbeaten 152 – which also stands as the highest by an Indian in IPL history.
Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Sai Sudharsan, Quinton de Kock, Tilak Varma, Ryan Rickelton, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Cooper Connolly, Finn Allen and Mitchell Marsh have also slammed hundreds this season.
The 2026 edition has also witnessed some of the fastest IPL fifties.
CSK’s Urvil Patel equalled Yashasvi Jaiswal’s record with a 13-ball half-century against LSG.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Abhishek Sharma both recorded 15-ball half-centuries.
Starting from the inaugural IPL season in 2008, the Orange Cap has been claimed by some of the finest batters in cricket.
The first-ever recipient was Australian opener Shaun Marsh, who amassed 616 runs for Kings XI Punjab. Over the years, the list of Orange Cap holders has included modern-day greats like Chris Gayle, David Warner and Virat Kohli.
Among the most remarkable Orange Cap-winning performances, Kohli’s record-breaking 973-run campaign in IPL 2016 remains unparalleled. The Royal Challengers Bengaluru talisman registered four centuries in the IPL that season, setting a benchmark.
Kohli’s tally for the 2016 season is still the record for most runs scored by a player in a single IPL season and the only time any batter has breached the 900-mark in the T20 competition. Shubman Gill, 890 in IPL 2023, has come the closest.
Chris Gayle is the only batter to win the Orange Cap in successive seasons – 2011 and 2012.
Meanwhile, David Warner holds the distinction of winning the Orange Cap three times (2015, 2017, 2019), the most by any player in IPL history.
In 2024, Virat Kohli reclaimed the Orange Cap, scoring 741 runs in 15 matches, to become only the third player to win the Orange Cap multiple times.
Last year, Gujarat Titans’ Sai Sudharsan won the IPL 2025 Orange Cap award, having scored 759 runs in 15 matches.
Only two players in IPL history – Robin Uthappa in 2014 with Kolkata Knight Riders and Ruturaj Gaikwad in 2021 with Chennai Super Kings – have managed to win both the Orange Cap and the IPL trophy in the same season.
In the 19 completed IPL seasons so far, the Indians have staked a claim on the Orange Cap nine times while the Australians have held the honour on six occasions.
The legendary Sachin Tendulkar, in 2010, was the first Indian to win the IPL Orange Cap after Marsh and Matthew Hayden, both Australians, claimed the prize in the first two editions.
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