New Delhi: Royal Challengers Bangalore pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar regained the top spot as the highest wicket-taker of the season in IPL 2026 Purple Cap on Thursday. Bhuvneshwar, who had an impressive haul of 3 for 28 in four games against the Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium, (352 runs) became the second Indian bowler after Yuzvendra Chahal to take 350 or more T20 wickets.Bhuvneshwar now has 17 scalps in 9 games at an impressive economy rate of 7.54 and is two wickets more than Sunrisers Hyderabad’s second-place finisher Eshan Malinga (15) in the Purple Cap match.Malinga moved to the top of the table after a well-disciplined performance against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday, but fell behind to Bhuvi again after the veteran pacer’s stellar performance against GT.Malinga took 1 for 29 in four overs against MI, maintaining an economy rate of 7.20 in the high-scoring match. With this performance, he took his wicket tally for the season to 15, surpassing a group of tight bowlers who were even on 14 wickets.RR’s Jofra Archer, CSK’s Anshul Kamboj and GT’s Kagiso Rabada are tied with 14 wickets each but are ranked third, fourth and fifth respectively in the points table based on economy rate.Archer’s economic value is 8.27, followed by Kamboj (8.56) and Rabada (9.65).Competition below the top five remains fierce. Prince Yadav of Lucknow Supergiants ranks sixth with 13 wickets.Moving further down, Prasidh Krishna has 12 wickets while Ravi Bishnoi has 11 wickets. Rashid Khan and AM Ghazanfar rounded out the top ten with 10 wickets each.As the league stages progress, the Purple Cap match is shaping up to be a tight affair with only a handful of wickets separating the leading contenders.
IPL 2026 Purple Cap Standings
| rank | player | wicket | matches | come on stage | economy. | best |
| 1 | Bhuvneshwar Kumar(RCB) | No. 17 | 9 | 35.0 | 7.54 | 3/5 |
| 2 | Essan Malinga (SRH) | 15 | 9 | 31.0 | 9.16 | 4/32 |
| 3 | Jofra Archer(RR) | 14 | 9 | 33.0 | 8.27 | 3/20 |
| 4 | Anshul Kamboj(CSK) | 14 | 8 | 27.4 | 8.56 | 3/22 |
| 5 | Kagiso Rabada(GT) | 14 | 9 | 35.0 | 9.65 | 3/25 |
| 6 | Prince Yadav(LSG) | 13 | 8 | 30.0 | 8.06 | 3/32 |
| 7 | Prasidh Krishna(GT) | 12 | 7 | 26.0 | 10.34 | 4/28 |
| 8 | Ravi Bishnoi(RR) | 11 | 8 | 24.0 | 9.54 | 4/41 |
| 9 | Rashid Khan(GT) | 10 | 9 | 33.0 | 8.30 | 3/17 |
| 10 | AM Gazanfar(MI) | 10 | 6 | 20.5 | 9.40 | 2/17 |
