Orange Cap at 15: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi eclipses Shubman Gill to finish IPL 2026 on top

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi created history on Sunday, May 31 as he became the youngest winner of IPL Orange Cap after Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan fell early during the final against RCB. Sooryavanshi amassed 776 runs from 16 matches this season at an average of 48.5 and an astonishing strike-rate of 237.3.

The 15-year-old raced ahead of the rest with his 97 and 96 during the Eliminator and Qualifier 2 matches against SRH and GT respectively. However, Sudharsan and Gill were able to cut the deficit during Qualifier 2 as Gujarat defeated Rajasthan to enter the final.

Gill was on 722 runs and Sudharsan on 710 when the final started and they had a big chance to go past the boy wonder. Howerver, the GT captain was dismissed for 10 runs and Sudharsan got 12 and finished with 722 and in second and third spots. Virat Kohli with 600 runs will need to score more than 176 runs in the final to get the Orange Cap, which is impossible at the moment.

Interestingly, Sooryavanshi is present at the venue for the final as



he was spotted alongside ICC Chairman Jay Shah.

At the age of 15 years and 65 days, Sooryavanshi also became the youngest Orange Cap winner in the history of IPL. Sooryavanshi broke the record of Sai Sudharsan, who won the Orange Cap last season at the age of 23 years and 237 days.

IPL ORANGE CAP: YOUNGEST WINNERS

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi - 15 years and 65 days

Sai Sudharsan - 23 years and 237 days

Shubman Gill - 23 years and 263 days

Ruturaj Gaikwad - 24 years and 257 days

Shaun Marsh - 24 years and 328 days

This was a season that saw Sooryavanshi break a host of records during the IPL. He smashed the record for the most sixes in a single IPL season by a batter and finished the campaign with 72 maximums. He also became the first player to score 500-plus runs in the powerplay during a T20 tournament.

Sooryavanshi also became the fastest to 1000 runs in the IPL.