New Delhi, April 28, 2025 — Virat Kohli, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru batting juggernaut, wrested the IPL 2025 Orange Cap from Mumbai Indians’ Suryakumar Yadav in a dramatic shuffle at the top of the run-scorers’ table after Sunday’s double-header. Kohli’s gritty 51 off 47 balls against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium propelled him to 443 runs in 10 matches, edging out Yadav’s 427 runs, earned earlier that day with a blistering 54 off 28 balls against Lucknow Super Giants.
The Orange Cap, awarded to the IPL’s leading run-scorer each season, has been a hot potato this year, changing hands multiple times in a single day. Yadav had briefly snatched it from Gujarat Titans’ Sai Sudharsan, who held 417 runs, only to see Kohli leapfrog him by nightfall. Kohli’s knock, his sixth half-century of the season, anchored RCB’s chase of 163, sealing a victory and boosting his average to a towering 63.28. His 39 fours and 13 sixes underline a campaign of relentless consistency.
Yadav, no slouch himself, has been a firecracker for Mumbai, boasting a strike rate of 169.44. His 54 against LSG powered MI to a commanding 215/7, securing a 54-run win. Yet, Kohli’s steady accumulation outdid Yadav’s fireworks, at least for now. Sudharsan, with a chance to reclaim the lead when Gujarat faces Rajasthan Royals on April 29, trails closely at 417 runs, followed by Lucknow’s Nicholas Pooran at 404 and Mitchell Marsh at 378.
Kohli, the IPL’s all-time leading run-scorer with over 8,000 runs, is no stranger to the Orange Cap, having clinched it in 2024 with 741 runs and in 2016 with a record-shattering 973. The 2025 race, though, is a dogfight, with five batsmen within 65 runs of the lead. The cap, a symbol of batting supremacy, can be worn by the top scorer during matches, but if runs are tied, the better strike rate prevails.
The IPL 2025 season, now past its halfway mark, has seen 10 batsmen cross the 300-run threshold, but only Sudharsan, Kohli, and Yadav have breached 400. With Gujarat’s next match looming, the leaderboard could tilt again. For now, Kohli holds the cap, his latest milestone in a career that’s already a ledger of broken records.