King Kohli on top! Stats leaders after first half of 2026 IPL season
by Devesh Jaganath | by Devesh Jaganath
Kohli overtakes SRH duo in Orange Cap standings
We are halfway through the 2026 Indian Premier League campaign, and the Punjab Kings continue to lead the table as the only team yet to lose a match this season, with their only dropped points coming by way of a no result against the Kolkata Knight Riders.
In the individual accolades, though, it is Virat Kohli who is leading the way as the top run-scorer in the competition, having clinched the Orange Cap in the Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s victory over the Gujarat Titans on Friday - a result that also confirmed our IPL predictions.
Kohli smashed four maximums en route to an excellent 81 runs off just 44 deliveries, guiding the defending champions to a five-wicket victory with seven balls to spare. RCB are now also second in the overall standings, just one point behind PBKS after seven games.
In addition to moving to the top of the scorers list, King Kohli also became only the third player in the history of the IPL to surpass 300 sixes after Chris Gayle and Rohit Sharma!
However, the race for the Orange Cap is far from over, as Kohli - now on 328 runs in seven innings - only leads the standings ahead of the Sunrisers Hyderabad duo of Abhishek Sharma and Heinrich Klaasen by five and eight runs, respectively.
IPL 2026: Orange Cap standings
| Pos | Player | Runs | Mat | Inns | NO | HS | Avg | BF | SR | 100 | 50 | 4s | 6s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Virat Kohli | 328 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 81 | 54.67 | 201 | 163.18 | 0 | 3 | 36 | 12 |
| 2 | Abhishek Sharma | 323 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 135* | 53.83 | 150 | 215.33 | 1 | 2 | 25 | 27 |
| 3 | Heinrich Klaasen | 320 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 62 | 53.33 | 209 | 153.11 | 0 | 3 | 22 | 13 |
| 4 | Shubman Gill | 297 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 86 | 49.50 | 199 | 149.24 | 0 | 3 | 29 | 11 |
| 5 | Sanju Samson | 293 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 115* | 58.60 | 164 | 178.65 | 2 | 0 | 31 | 15 |
| 6 | K L Rahul | 271 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 92 | 45.17 | 158 | 171.51 | 0 | 3 | 27 | 13 |
| 7 | Vaibhav Sooryavanshi | 254 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 78 | 36.29 | 115 | 220.86 | 0 | 2 | 26 | 20 |
| 8 | Yashasvi Jaiswal | 245 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 77* | 49.00 | 158 | 155.06 | 0 | 2 | 27 | 12 |
| 9 | Rajat Patidar | 238 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 63 | 39.67 | 113 | 210.61 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 23 |
| 10 | Ishan Kishan | 238 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 91 | 34.00 | 126 | 188.88 | 0 | 2 | 24 | 13 |
Kamboj leads Chennai Super Kings resurgence
While the batting standings feature familiar faces, the race for the Purple Cap has produced a few surprises so far, none more so than Anshul Kamboj, currently leading the way with 14 wickets in seven matches and a strike rate of 10.57.
The 25-year-old medium-pacer has been key to CSK’s resurgence in recent weeks and delivered a spectacular spell in the team’s victory over the Mumbai Indians on Thursday, going for just 10 runs in three overs, while also claiming the wicket of Shardul Thakur.
Beyond Kamboj, there are further surprises in the leading wicket-taker standings, with LSG’s Prince Yadav now in second place on 13 wickets in seven games. Eshan Malinga of SRH sits third, level on 12 scalps with last year’s Purple Cap winner Prasidh Krishna, and Jofra Archer rounds out the top five.
IPL 2026: Purple Cap standings
| Pos | Player | Wkts | Mat | Inns | Ov | Runs | BBI | Avg | Econ | SR | 4w | 5w |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anshul Kamboj | 14 | 7 | 7 | 24.4 | 221 | 22/3 | 15.78 | 8.95 | 10.57 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Prince Yadav | 13 | 7 | 7 | 26 | 218 | 32/3 | 16.76 | 8.38 | 12.00 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Eshan Malinga | 12 | 7 | 7 | 23 | 217 | 32/4 | 18.08 | 9.43 | 11.50 | 1 | 0 |
| 4 | Prasidh Krishna | 12 | 7 | 7 | 26 | 269 | 28/4 | 22.41 | 10.34 | 13.00 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | Jofra Archer | 11 | 7 | 7 | 25 | 199 | 20/3 | 18.09 | 7.96 | 13.63 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Bhuvneshwar Kumar | 11 | 7 | 7 | 28 | 231 | 26/3 | 21.00 | 8.25 | 15.27 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Ravi Bishnoi | 11 | 7 | 7 | 23 | 213 | 41/4 | 19.36 | 9.26 | 12.54 | 1 | 0 |
| 8 | Kagiso Rabada | 10 | 7 | 7 | 27 | 269 | 29/3 | 26.90 | 9.96 | 16.20 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | Jamie Overton | 9 | 6 | 6 | 17 | 157 | 18/4 | 17.44 | 9.23 | 11.33 | 1 | 0 |
| 10 | Harsh Dubey | 8 | 6 | 6 | 17 | 142 | 12/3 | 17.75 | 8.35 | 12.75 | 0 | 0 |
