Shreyas Iyer registered his third successive fifty in IPL 2026 to enter the Orange Cap race on Thursday, April 16. Punjab Kings skipper scored 66 off just 35 balls to lead his team to a dominant win over Mumbai Indians at Wankhede Stadium.
After the 24th match of the season, seven players are fighting for the Orange Cap with just 28 runs separating leader Virat Kohli and the seventh-placed Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. Punjab Kings' Prabhsimran Singh has also joined the battle after scoring an unbeaten 80 runs against Mumbai on Thursday.
Shreyas Iyer enters IPL 2026 Orange Cap race
Virat Kohli remains at the top with 228 runs in five innings at a strike rate of 158.33. The two-time Orange Cap winner has been in superb form this season with two fifties in IPL 2026. RCB captain Rajat Patidar is also in contention with 222 runs at a strike rate of 213.46. He has the best strike rate among the top five leading run-scorers.
SRH batters Heinrich Klaasen and Ishan Kishan are among the top five leading run-getters and will target their maiden Orange Cap this season.
Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer and Prabhsimran Singh scored back-to-back fifties to reach 200 runs this season and surpass Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in the Orange Cap leaderboard. Shreyas has scored 203 runs in four innings at a strike rate of 187.96, and Prabhsimran has 211 runs at a strike rate of 172.95. Notably, both PBKS players have played a game less each than the other contenders in the Orange Cap race.
- Virat Kohli (RCB) - 228 runs in 5 innings
- Heinrich Klaasen (SRH) - 224 runs in 5 innings
- Rajat Patidar (RCB) - 222 runs in 5 innings
- Ishan Kishan (SRH) - 213 runs in 5 innings
- Prabhsimran Singh (PBKS) - 211 runs in 4 innings
- Shreyas Iyer (PBKS) - 203 runs in 4 innings
- Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (RR) - 200 runs in 5 innings
Meanwhile, there were no changes to the Purple Cap leaderboard after the MI vs PBKS game on Thursday. Prasidh Krishna and Anshul Kamboj lead the standings with 10 wickets, with Prince Yadav following closely with nine wickets this season.
