Kagiso Rabada claims 2026 IPL Purple Cap with 29 wickets

South African fast bowler Kagiso Rabada has won the Purple Cap as the leading wicket-taker of the 2026 Indian Premier League season. The Gujarat Titans bowler secured the award despite his team’s loss to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the final on June 1 in Ahmedabad.

Rabada finished the season with 29 wickets from 17 matches, edging out Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar by a single wicket. In the championship match, Kumar took two wickets for 29 runs, briefly moving ahead due to a superior seasonal average. Rabada’s sole wicket in the final, dismissing Devdutt Padikkal for one run, was enough to reclaim the top spot and clinch the award.

This marks Rabada’s second Purple Cap, having previously won the award in the 2020 season while playing for the Delhi Capitals, where he took 30 wickets. With this achievement, he joins an elite group of bowlers who have won the award multiple times, following Dwayne Bravo, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Harshal Patel. Rabada is also only the second player, after Harshal Patel, to win the Purple Cap with two different franchises.

The 2026 season represents a significant comeback for the 31-year-old pace bowler. His debut season with...