Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Pic credit: IPL) NEW DELHI: Bhuvneshwar Kumar on Thursday claimed the top spot in the Purple Cap IPL 2026 race for the highest wicket-taker this season. Bhuvneshwar returned impressive figures of 3 for 28 in four overs against Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium as he became only the second Indian bowler to take 350 or more T20 wickets after Yuzvendra Chahal.Bhuvneshwar now has 17 scalps from nine matches at an impressive economy rate of 7.54 and is two wickets ahead of runner-up Eshan Malinga (15) of Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Purple Cap race.
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RCB admit batting failure after narrow defeat | IPL 2026Malinga surged to the top of the order after a disciplined innings against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday, but fell behind Bhuvi again after the veteran pacer’s performances against GT.Malinga returned figures of 1 for 29 in his four overs vs. MI, while maintaining an economy of 7.20 in the high-scoring contest. That performance took him to 15 wickets this season and got past a tightly packed group of bowlers who were at 14 wickets.RR’s Jofra Archer, CSK’s Anshul Kamboj and GT’s Kagiso Rabada are tied on 14 wickets but are ranked third, fourth and fifth in the economy rate order.Archer has an economy of 8.27, followed by Kamboj at 8.56 and Rabada (9.65).The competition remains strong even just below the top five. Lucknow Super Giants’ Prince Yadav occupies the sixth position with 13 wickets.Further down the list, Prasidh Krishna has 12 wickets while Ravi Bishnoi has 11. Rashid Khan and AM Ghazanfar complete the top 10 with 10 wickets each.As the league stage progresses, the Purple Cap race is shaping up to be a close contest, with just a handful of wickets separating the leading contenders.
IPL 2026 Purple Cap Standings
RankPlayerWicketsMatchesOversEcon.Best1Bhuvneshwar Kumar (RCB)17935.07.543/52Eshan Malinga (SRH)15931.09.164/323Jofra Archer (RR)14933.08.273/204Anshul (CSK)14827.48.563/225Kagiso Rabada (GT)14935.09.653/256Prince Yadav (LSG)13830.08.063/327Prasidh Krishna (GT)12726.010.344/28 (RR)11824.09.544/419Rashid Khan (GT)10933.08.303/1710AM Ghazanfar (MI)10620.59.402/17
