New Delhi: Royal Challengers Bangalore fast bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar On Thursday, the IPL 2026 took the top spot in the purple cap race for the highest wicket takers this season. Bhuvneshwar returned impressive figures of 3 for 28 in four overs against the Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium, as he became the second Indian bowler after Yuzvendra Chahal (352) to take 350 or more T20 wickets.Bhuvneshwar now has 17 scalps from nine games at an impressive economy rate of 7.54, and is two wickets ahead of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s second-placed Ishan Malinga (15) in the Purple Cap race.Malinga had climbed to the top of the standings after a disciplined dismissal against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday, but fell behind Bhuvi again after the veteran pacer’s exploits against GT.Malinga returned figures of 1 for 29 in his four overs against MI, maintaining an economy rate of 7.20 in a high-scoring contest. With this performance, he took his wicket tally to 15 this season, moving ahead of a strong group of bowlers who were tied for 14 wickets each.RR’s Jofra Archer, CSK’s Anshul Kamboj and GT’s Kagiso Rabada are tied on 14 wickets each, but are ranked third, fourth and fifth respectively on economy rate basis.Archer’s economy is 8.27, followed by Kamboj’s 8.56 and Rabada’s (9.65).Competition is fierce even just below the top five. Lucknow Supergiants’ Prince Yadav is sixth with 13 wickets.Further down the list, Prasad Krishna has 12 wickets, while Ravi Bishnoi has 11 wickets. Rashid Khan and AM Ghazanfar are among the top 10 with 10 and 10 wickets respectively.As the league stage progresses, the race for the Purple Cap is shaping up to be a closely fought contest, with only a few wickets separating the leading contenders.
IPL 2026 Purple Cap Standings
| Rank | the player | Wickets | Matches | Overs | Econ | The best |
| 1 | Bhuvneshwar Kumar (RCB) | 17 | 9 | 35.0 | 7.54 | 3/5 |
| 2 | Ishan 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 | Prasad 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 Ghazanfar (MI) | 10 | 6 | 20.5 | 9.40 | 2/17 |
