Orange Cap race exciting: Ryan Rickelton ahead, Kohli behind, Rohit Sharma’s status in question; KL Rahul can become top scorer today

New Delhi. In the Indian Premier League 2026, the competition to score runs among the batsmen has reached its peak. The position of Orange Cap is changing with every match and there are constant ups and downs in the top order.

Rickelton’s explosive jump, Kohli behind

Mumbai Indians’ young batsman Ryan Rickelton made a big impact by playing a brilliant inning of 83 runs against Lucknow Super Giants. After this inning, he has overtaken Virat Kohli in the list of run scorers. Although they are still outside the top-5, but are lagging behind by just a few runs. This Mumbai Indians batsman has scored 380 runs in 8 matches so far. Whereas Virat Kohli has slipped behind him with 379 runs.

Rohit Sharma’s strong comeback, but out of the race

Rohit Sharma, who made a comeback against LSG after a long time, played a brilliant inning of 84 runs, but he is far behind in the race for the Orange Cap. He is currently at 28th position, which clearly shows that his form has returned, but there is still improvement in the ranking.

Position of top-5 batsmen

At present these players are ahead in the race for Orange Cap:

Abhishek Sharma – 440 runs
KL Rahul – 433 runs
Heinrich Klaasen – 425 runs
Vaibhav Suryavanshi – 404 runs
Sai Sudarshan – 385 runs

KL Rahul is now very close to becoming number-1 by a margin of just 7 runs.

Number 1 equation may change today

KL Rahul has a big opportunity in today’s match. If he scores just 8 more runs, he can overtake Abhishek Sharma and win the Orange Cap. At the same time, Abhishek Sharma will also give his full strength to maintain his lead. This competition between Abhishek Sharma and Rahul has now become the most exciting race of the tournament.

Purple Cap battle is also interesting

The competition in bowling is also tough. Bhuvneshwar Kumar holds the Purple Cap with 17 wickets, but Anshul Kamboj has also reached par. Today can bring big changes here too.

The equation is changing every match

The race for the Orange Cap in the Indian Premier League 2026 has become very exciting. While Kohli has lagged behind Rickelton’s entry, the competition between Rahul and Abhishek has made the top position more interesting. The upcoming matches will decide who will become the real run king of this season.