Orange Cap Players

The IPL orange cap winners list is a list of the top-scoring players in each season of the IPL. It was introduced on April 25, 2008, a week after the first season of the IPL began. While a contender for the cap, an IPL player wears a temporary orange cap while fielding. A player who has the IPL orange cap can keep on changing depending on the number of runs accumulated over a season. The orange cap winner is declared on the final day of the season, where he is presented with a special award.

Now, you can choose the top orange cap players as you make your own IPL fantasy cricket team on Dream11

Let’s take a look at the IPL orange cap winners list for each season between 2008 and 2021.

The first orange cap winner in the IPL was former Australian cricketer, Shaun Marsh. Despite missing the opening 4 games of the tournament for Kings XI Punjab, he managed to accumulate a cool 616 runs in the first IPL season. He also scored a century in Punjab's final league game against the Rajasthan Royals, who won the first IPL. His exploits helped Punjab to reach the semis.

Former Australian opener and two–time ODI World Cup winner, Matthew Hayden won the orange cap in 2009, with 572 runs across 12 innings to his name. Despite having retired from the international team, he had some great performances across the tournament. His run–scoring abilities at the top order helped Chennai reach the semis.

The legendary Sachin Tendulkar was named player of the tournament at the 2010 edition of the IPL. He was also the team captain for 4 matches, and he guided Mumbai to the final, where they fell short against Chennai thanks to the latter's better bowling and strategies set by MS Dhoni. His 618 off 14 innings broke Shaun Marsh’s record, although he needed three more innings than Shaun to beat the record.

Two-time T20 World Cup champion Chris Gayle landed his name on the IPL orange cap list in his first season for the Royal Bangalore Challengers. He amassed 608 runs over 12 innings, and was also named as player of the 2011 IPL tournament. He helped Bangalore reach the final, where he was unfortunately dismissed for a duck. Chris also managed the most sixes that season, with 52.

Chris Gayle added his name to the IPL orange cap list for a second time. He missed the start of the IPL season due to an injury, however, he later bounced back to have a flourishing season. Chris accumulated 733 runs off, with 7 fifties, a hundred, and an impressive strike rate of 160.74. He managed 59 sixes that year, which is still the record for the most sixes in a single IPL season.

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Michael Hussey is the third Australian player on the IPL orange cap winners list. He equalled Chris Gayle's record from last season, accumulating 733 runs from 16 innings, which included 2 playoff games against the Mumbai Indians. He managed to take Chennai to the final, however, a strong bowling performance from Lasith Malinga and Mitchell Johnson dashed his team's hopes of a 3rd IPL trophy.

Robin Uthappa is the first player in the IPL orange cap list to also be a part of the IPL winning team in the same season. The first half of the IPL was held in the UAE region due to general elections in India that year. Robin did not have a very great time in the tournament's first stage, but when he returned to India for the second leg, he changed his batting approach. He was promoted to open the innings with Gautam Gambhir, the Kolkata captain. The move paid off as Robin created a T20 record, with 40+ scores in 8 consecutive games. He ended up with 11 such scores, which was an IPL record at the time.

David Warner, who won the T20 World Cup in 2021 for Australia, won his first orange cap in 2015. In the process, he became the fourth Australian on the IPL orange cap winners list. Warner was also the Sunrisers Hyderabad captain, however, his team fell short of the playoffs.

Virat Kohli had a tremendous IPL season in 2016, scoring 973 runs, which is still the record for most runs scored in a single IPL season. He scored 4 fantastic centuries, including one in a curtailed 15-over game against Punjab Kings. Kohli was also the captain, and he managed to lead his team to the final. However, his team fell just short against David Warner's Hyderabad.

Davis Warner once again made it to the IPL orange cap winners list. He scored a proficient 641 runs in 14 innings, which guided the Sunrisers to the playoffs, where they lost to the Kolkata Knight Riders.

Kane Williamson became the first player from New Zealand to make it to the IPL orange cap winners list. His 735 runs in 17 innings helped Sunrisers reach the final, where they fell short against the Chennai Super Kings thanks to Shane Watson's brilliant century.

David is currently the only player on the IPL orange cap list to win the cap three times. He scored 692 runs in just 12 innings at an excellent average of 69.20 for the Sunrisers, including a brilliant century against Kolkata. However, he did not stay until the end of the tournament, as he departed early to attend Australia's World Cup preparatory camp.

KL Rahul was one of the most promising points in Punjab Kings' 2020 IPL campaign, where they failed to reach the playoffs. His 670 runs as an opener guided his team to some important wins, but they fell just short of the playoffs. Rahul's efforts were recognized and rewarded, and he began to feature more regularly in India's T20 setup. He also led as a temporary captain in the Test and ODI series against South Africa.

The IPL is a great tournament for discovering unknown talent, and last year, Ruturaj Gaikwad, an uncapped India player, added himself to the IPL orange cap list. His 635 runs in 16 innings, which included his debut IPL century against the Rajasthan Royals, ensured that Chennai clinched their fourth IPL title. Ruturaj also received the emerging player award for his efforts.

This was the list of orange cap players in the IPL. While it is hard to predict who will top the scoring charts in 2022, KL Rahul, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Rohit Sharma show a lot of promise. Even David Warner has a chance of winning his fourth IPL orange cap. With Virat Kohli likely to play as an opener for Bangalore at the 2022 IPL, he could also definitely be among the runs and get back to his old form. Who knows, maybe another unknown prospect like Ruturaj could become the next orange cap player in the IPL.

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