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Rohit Sharma is doing what Rohit Sharma does at the start of an IPL season, making runs look easy and making everyone around him look ordinary.

After a stunning 78 off 38 balls against KKR in the opener, Rohit Sharma followed up with a crucial 35 off 26 against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday, and in doing so moved to the top of the IPL 2026 Orange Cap standings with 113 runs from just two innings. He leads Cooper Connolly of Punjab Kings by five runs at the summit of the run-scoring charts.

Why Rohit Sharma's today's knock mattered more than the numbers suggest

This was not the Rohit Sharma of the KKR game, the one who came out swinging from ball one and dismantled a quality bowling attack with breathtaking ease. Today he had to dig in.

Mumbai Indians were rocked early by a double strike from Mukesh Kumar and found themselves in serious trouble at 18 for 2 in the third over having lost Ryan Rickelton and Tilak Varma in quick succession.

Rohit Sharma curbed his natural aggression, read the situation and stitched together a crucial 53-run partnership with stand-in captain Suryakumar Yadav to drag MI back into the game.

He was watchful against the early swing, picked his moments carefully and kept the scoreboard ticking without letting the run rate drop to a point where MI would be playing catch-up. The innings from Rohit Sharma had real tactical intelligence behind it and it was exactly the kind of knock that does not always get the credit it deserves.

DC vs MI: The dismissal of Rohit Sharma that ended it

Just as Rohit Sharma was beginning to look dangerous and shifting gears in the tenth over, Axar Patel produced a delivery that tempted him into an aggressive inside-out drive over the covers.

The shot was not a bad one, it was the kind of shot that goes for six more often than not. But Nitish Rana at extra cover had other ideas, taking a stunning diving catch that pulled the ball out of thin air and sent Rohit Sharma back to the pavilion for 35. It was a moment of pure fielding brilliance that ended what was becoming a very important innings for MI.

Also READ: IPL 2026: Why is Hardik Pandya not playing today's DC vs MI game?

IPL 2026: Orange Cap standings after today and where RCB's Virat Kohli stands

Rohit's 113 runs from two matches puts him five ahead of Cooper Connolly of Punjab Kings on 108. Angkrish Raghuvanshi of KKR sits third on 103, Ishan Kishan of SRH is fourth on 94 and Ryan Rickelton rounds out the top five on 90.

With several teams yet to play their second or third games the cap will change hands frequently over the coming week, but Rohit at the top of the run-scoring charts after two games is exactly the kind of form that makes Mumbai Indians look like genuine title contenders heading into the meat of the tournament.

As of the afternoon of April 4, 2026, the Orange Cap standings of the Indian Premier League tournament show an element of surprise in that Virat Kohli is currently not among the Top 10 scorers for the tournament.

It must be noted that Kohli started his campaign on the right note, hitting an impressive unbeaten knock of 69 runs from 38 deliveries against Sunrisers Hyderabad. However, this is not because Kohli's form has been under par; rather, it is due to the scheduling of the matches. Kohli has a terrific strike rate of 181.57, which ranks among the highest in the ongoing season.