Orange Cap at 15: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi eclipses Shubman Gill to finish IPL 2026 on top

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi created history on Sunday, May 31 when he became the youngest winner of the IPL Orange Cap after Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan fell early during the final against RCB. Sooryavanshi has amassed 776 runs from 16 matches this season at an average of 48.5 and a staggering strike rate of 237.3.

The 15-year-old raced ahead of the others with 97 and 96 during the Eliminator and Qualifier 2 matches against SRH and GT respectively. However, Sudharsan and Gill managed to reduce the deficit during Qualifier 2 as Gujarat defeated Rajasthan to enter the final.

Gill was on 722 runs and Sudharsan on 710 when the final started and they had a great chance to overtake the boy wonder. However, the GT skipper was dismissed for 10 runs and Sudharsan got 12 to finish with 722 and second and third respectively. Virat Kohli with 600 runs will have to score more than 176 runs in the final to get the orange cap which is impossible at the moment.

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Published on:

31 May 2026 20:31 IST