Rajasthan Royals opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is only 15 years and 65 days old as compared to Sai Sudharsan, who was 23 years of age when he won the Orange Cap in IPL 2025.
Published: May 31, 2026, 9:08 PM IST
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Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is set to end IPL 2026 as leading run-getter. (Photo: IANS)
RCB vs GT IPL 2026 Final: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is only 15 years and 65 days old and on Sunday, he is all but assured of creating history in the IPL 2026 season. The Rajasthan Royals opener is set to become the youngest-ever winner of the Orange Cap after the cheap dismissal of Gujarat Titans openers Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan – the only two batters with the realistic chance of overhauling the youngster.
Sooryavanshi, whose campaign ended in the Qualifier 2 stage with RR’s seven-wicket loss to GT, will end the IPL 2026 campaign with 776 runs in 16 matches at a strike-rate of 237.3 with 1 century and 5 fifties to his name. Gill, who was in 2nd place heading into the IPL 2026 final against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, was dismissed for 10 by Josh Hazlewood and will end his campaign with 732 runs in 16 matches with a strike-rate of 163.02 with 1 century and 6 fifties.
Read more:
RCB vs GT Live Score, IPL 2026 Final: Bengaluru’s bowling puts Gujarat’s batting under scrutiny
Sudharsan, the IPL 2025 Orange Cap winner, was dismissed for 12 by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and will end his campaign with 722 runs in 17 matches at a strike-rate of 157.98 with 1 century and 8 fifties. No one else is in contention to over the Bihar youngster, who incidentally arrived in Ahmedabad on Sunday evening in anticipation of winning the Orange Cap.
RCB opener Virat Kohli was yet to bat but with only 600 runs to his name in 16 matches before the run-chase, even the former India captain was out of race to win the Orange Cap.
Orange Cap winners in IPL in each season
| Season | Player | Matches | Runs |
| 2008 | Shaun Marsh (KXIP) | 11 | 616 |
| 2009 | Matthew Hayden (CSK) | 12 | 572 |
| 2010 | Sachin Tendulkar (MI) | 15 | 618 |
| 2011 | Chris Gayle (RCB) | 12 | 608 |
| 2012 | Chris Gayle (RCB) | 15 | 733 |
| 2013 | Michael Hussey (CSK) | 16 | 733 |
| 2014 | Robin Uthappa (KKR) | 16 | 660 |
| 2015 | David Warner (SRH) | 14 | 562 |
| 2016 | Virat Kohli (RCB) | 16 | 973 |
| 2017 | David Warner (SRH) | 14 | 641 |
| 2018 | Kane Williamson (SRH) | 17 | 735 |
| 2019 | David Warner (SRH) | 12 | 692 |
| 2020 | KL Rahul (KXIP) | 14 | 670 |
| 2021 | Ruturaj Gaikwad (CSK) | 16 | 635 |
| 2022 | Jos Buttler (RR) | 17 | 863 |
| 2023 | Shubman Gill (GT) | 17 | 890 |
| 2024 | Virat Kohli (RCB) | 15 | 741 |
| 2025 | Sai Sudharsan (GT) | 15 | 759 |
Sooryavanshi broke the record of last year’s winner Sudharsan by becoming the youngest-ever winner of the Orange Cap by the proverbial country mile. The GT opener was 23 years and 237 days old when he bagged the Orange Cap in 2025 season.
Sudharsan had broken the record of Shubman Gill, who was the previous youngest Orange Cap winner at 23 years and 263 days when he won the crown in 2023 season with GT.
(More to come)
