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Archer rises to third on IPL 2026 Purple Cap table, Rahul finishes season on a h

Ahmad Rashidi · 25/05/2026 · 2 min read

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Purple Cap leaderboard
Orange Cap leaderboard
Other key numbers

IPL 2026 League Stage Comes to a Close

That’s the end of the league stage of IPL 2026, with Rajasthan Royals (RR) booking their place in the playoffs with a win over Mumbai Indians (MI) and Delhi Capitals (DC) ending their dismal season with a win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Here’s how things stand on the Orange and Purple Cap tables.

Purple Cap leaderboard

RR had to beat MI to get into the playoffs, and they did thanks in the main to Jofra Archer, who starred with bat and ball. Here, though, it’s what he did with the ball that matters more: 3 for 17. Rohit Sharma and Naman Dhir were knocked over in the powerplay and Hardik Pandya was sent back later in the script.

That lifted Archer straight to No. 3, past Anshul Kamboj of Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Rashid Khan of Gujarat Titans (GT) and Eshan Malinga of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), and only behind Bhuvneshwar Kumar of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and GT’s Kagiso Rabada, who both have 24 wickets each. Archer has 21.

Bhuvneshwar, Rabada, Archer and Rashid now have the opportunity to fight it out for the big prize at the end of the playoffs.

Orange Cap leaderboard

The two matches on Sunday pitted three teams that haven’t had too many individual batting stars this season, but Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was in action in the afternoon-evening game and KL Rahul was around for the evening-night game. One of them did well to finish his season on a high; the other faltered, but has more chances to lift his aggregate.

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First up was Sooryavanshi, against MI, but Deepak Chahar had his number early, and the four runs Sooryavanshi scored only took his tally up marginally, to 583. At that point, he was at No. 4 on the run-scorers’ table, behind the GT duo of B Sai Sudharsan (638 runs) and Shubman Gill (616 runs), and SRH’s Heinrich Klaasen, who has 606.

But Rahul wasn’t going away from the tournament without making a statement, and he did, with an innings of 60 in 30 balls against KKR. That took him up to 593 runs for the season, past a host of batters including Sooryavanshi, and gave him the fourth spot at the end of his season. It will change, most likely, but a big finish for Rahul nevertheless.

Other key numbers

IPL 2026 MVP

Best batting strike rates

Best economy rates

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Ahmad Rashidi

Ahmad Rashidi is a senior cricket correspondent for TOLOnews and one of the most recognised voices covering Afghanistan’s remarkable cricketing rise. A Kabul University journalism graduate, he started reporting from the dusty club grounds of Nangarhar and Khost long before the world took notice of Afghan cricket. Today, Ahmad is a constant presence at ICC events, providing nuanced analysis in both Dari and English. His deep knowledge of spin bowling techniques—especially the art of leg‑spin and googly—has made him a go‑to expert on Afghanistan’s famed spinning attack. He has reported on multiple T20 World Cups, the Afghanistan Premier League, and the journeys of players like Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman from local heroes to global stars. Ahmad’s work is marked by a passion for storytelling and a commitment to shining a light on cricket’s development in emerging nations.