Mustafizur Rahman is still at the top of the Purple Cap standings for the 2024 Indian Premier League. With a best of 4/29 in the season-opening match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, the CSK bowler won the Purple Cap and hasn’t lost it since. He has taken seven wickets in three games. Closely trailing in the Purple Cap standings is India leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who wreaked havoc for the Rajasthan Royals against the Mumbai Indians, taking 3/11 to extend his career total of wickets to six.
Mohit Sharma and Khaleel Ahmed, who both have three wickets, are ranked third and fourth in the race for the Purple Cap, providing an intriguing twist to the contest. Trent Boult, who finished with a scorching 3/22 to aid RR in deconstructing MI’s batting order, completes the top 5.
Every year, a new face has assumed the Purple Cap, which is often associated with the IPL’s top wicket-taker. But the only player to get the coveted cap in back-to-back seasons is Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Harshal Patel (2021) and Dwayne Bravo (2011) share the record for most wickets in an IPL edition. Both players finished with a bang, winning the coveted Purple Cap.
Either the Purple Cap or the legacy
Back in 2008, when he finished the IPL’s first season with 22 wickets, Pakistan’s Sohail Tanvir ignited the Purple Cap race. After the IPL relocated to South Africa the next year, former Indian left-arm quick RP Singh defeated Tanvir by a wicket and finished with 23 scalps. Prior to foreign names taking control, Pragyan Ojha was the second Indian to win the Purple Cap with 21 wickets in 2010.
Before Mohit broke the run in 2014 with 23 wickets, Lasith Malinga (28 wickets), Morne Morkel (25 wickets), and Dwayne Bravo (32 wickets) dominated the next three seasons. Before Bhuvneshwar made history in 2016 and 2017 with 23 and 26 wickets, respectively, Bravo received his second Purple Cap in 2015.
