Orange Cap and Purple Cap winners in the IPL: List of every winner and some interesting trends

From eye-catching batsmen to quality, unplayable bowlers, the Indian Premier League (IPL) has unearthed several high-profile international stars onto the global arena over its fourteen-year course of history. And to celebrate the brilliance of all such performers, every year, the IPL awards its top run-scorers and wicket-takers with the orange and purple caps respectively. Here below is the winners list of IPL orange cap and purple cap holder since 2008.

So to keep up with the cricket action-packed week of IPL that it has been thus far; let’s take a quick stroll through the list of every Orange Cap and Purple Cap winner in each season of the IPL. 

IPL Orange Cap And Purple Cap Winners List From 2008 To 2020

2008:  Shaun Marsh (KXIP), 616 runs; Sohail Tanvir (RR), 22 wickets 

2009 Matthew Hayden (CSK), 572 runs; RP Singh (DC), 23 wickets

2010 Sachin Tendulkar (MI), 618 runs; Pragyan Ojha (DC), 21 wickets

2011 Chris Gayle (RCB), 608 runs; Lasith Malinga (MI), 28 wickets 

2012 Chris Gayle (RCB), 733 runs; Morne Morkel (DD), 25 wickets

2013 Michael Hussey (CSK), 733 runs; Dwayne Bravo (CSK), 32 wickets

2014 Robin Uthappa (KKR), 660 runs; Mohit Sharma (CSK), 23 wickets

2015 David Warner (SRH), 562 runs; Dwayne Bravo (CSK), 26 wickets

2016 Virat Kohli (RCB), 973 runs; Bhuvneshwar Kumar (SRH), 23 wickets

2017 David Warner (SRH), 641 runs; Bhuvneshwar Kumar (SRH), 26 wickets

2018 Kane Williamson (SRH), 735 runs; Andrew Tye (KXIP), 24 wickets

2019 David Warner (SRH), 692 runs; Imran Tahir (CSK), 26 wickets

2020 KL Rahul (KXIP), 670 runs; Kagiso Rabada (DC), 30 wickets

Also Read: What is Slow Over Rate Rule In IPl 2021

Fun trends

• Virat Kohli’s otherworldly tally of 973-runs in 2016 continues to be the best performance for a batsman in an IPL season. Bowling-wise, Dwayne Bravo’s sensational 32-wicket season for CSK in 2013 is the pinnacle of all purple-cap winners. 
• With 3-orange caps to his name, David Warner establishes himself as one of, if not the best batsman of this coveted league. An interesting stat about his list of purple caps is that since 2015, he has earned them in every alternate season of 2017 and 2019.  And judging from his hard-hitting reputation; what’s to say he doesn’t follow that pattern and reclaim his orange cap by the end of this season?
• Dwayne Bravo and Bhuvneshwar Kumar each have two purple caps to their name; which effectively ties them as the IPL’s best-performing bowlers. In fact, across the 13 editions so far, spinners have won the purple cap only twice. This is a particularly surprising stat, considering that Indian bowling conditions have traditionally been more supportive towards slow-bowlers. 
• Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey are the only two Chennai batsmen to ever have won an orange cap. Even though their accomplishments came at a time when Chennai was one of the top-performing teams of the IPL; neither could win the trophy for their team. 
• There’s a couple of interesting one-offs on the list in the form of Robin Uthappa and Sohail Tanvir. Robin happens to be the only KKR player who has, to date, won either of the caps for the franchise. Sohail Tanvir and the Rajasthan Royals have a similar relationship; with the added caveat that Sohail continues to be the only Pakistani player in the history of the tournament to wear the purple cap.
• Mumbai Indians, despite being five-time champions and the most successful team in the tournament, only have two caps to show for their dominance. Meanwhile, the Royal Challengers Bangalore, with three Orange Caps in their armoury, are yet to put a trophy in their empty cabinet. 
• If you count the Deccan Chargers and Sunrisers Hyderabad the same unit, Hyderabad emerges as the tournament’s joint-best bowling side. Alongside the Chennai Super Kings, they share the 4 purple-cap among themselves- the most for any IPL franchise.
• Over the years, the IPL has seen a select few players perform consistently well in their department. However, a lot of them are yet to win their first orange or purple cap. The list includes several high profile batting names like Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, AB de Villiers and Jos Buttler among many others. On the bowling front, the likes of Rashid Khan, Jasprit Bumrah, Sunil Narine, Amit Mishra, Ravichandran Ashwin and Piyush Chawla are still waiting to win their maiden purple caps. 
• Overall, four times out of thirteen, the team that has gone on to win the tournament has had one of their players with either the orange or the purple cap. Additionally, there has only been one instance where a team with either of the capped players hasn’t featured in that season’s finals: the Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2017, who finished with both the orange and the purple caps.