Cricket is a cruel joke. Just ask Kagiso Rabada. The South African speedster walked away from IPL 2026 with the Purple Cap, but his team, the Gujarat Titans, choked when it mattered most, losing the Ahmedabad final to Royal Challengers Bengaluru by five wickets. Rabada was brilliant. He bagged 29 wickets across 17 outings. Sure, his economy rate of 9.68 was nothing to write home about in this batter-friendly era, but taking wickets is what keeps bowlers employed, and Rabada did that better than anyone else this year.
This isn’t his first rodeo. Rabada now has two of these purple hats gathering dust on his mantelpiece. He won his first back in 2020 with Delhi Capitals, grabbing 30 scalps that year.
He had to fight for it. RCB’s veteran warhorse Bhuvneshwar Kumar chased him right to the final delivery of the tournament. Kumar finished with 28 wickets from 16 games, a massive reason why Bengaluru managed to defend their crown. If you want to talk about actual control, Kumar was the real king. He choked batters to the tune of a 7.95 economy rate—the best among the top five wicket-takers—and his 4 for 23 was a masterclass in swing bowling.
Then there is Jofra Archer. The Rajasthan Royals quick grabbed third place with 25 wickets in 16 games, proving he still has that terrifying, rib-cracking pace. He went at 9.31 an over. Behind him came Rashid Khan, the lone spin wizard in a desert of fast bowlers. The Afghan maestro took 21 wickets for Gujarat, surviving the modern batting onslaught with a respectable 9.08 economy. He was the only spinner in the top ten. Let that sink in.
Finally, the kid. Chennai’s Anshul Kamboj sneaked into fifth. He took 21 wickets in just 14 games. He got absolutely hammered at times, leaking 10.52 runs an over, but the boy has a knack for finding breakthroughs. In a tournament designed to destroy bowlers’ sanity, these five somehow survived the carnage.
