The Indian Premier League 2020 season is set to kick-off. A number of batsmen including Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, David Warner and others would look to win the prestigious Orange Cap.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 season is only 10 days away and fans have started predicting who could be the winners and top performers in the league. With the league taking place only across three venues in the United Arab Emirates this season, a lot has changed about the team compositions, strengths and weaknesses since there would be no ‘home advantages’ to stake a claim for.
While the IPL trophy remains the ultimate title for everyone participating in the league, there will be individual honours like the Orange Cap and the Purple Cap which will be up for grabs. Ahead of the start of the new season, we take a look at the top contenders for Orange Cap.
1.) Virat Kohli
Winner of the prestigious Orange Cap in the 2016 season where he scored 973 runs, Kohli once again will be key to Royal Challengers Bangalore’s chances in the season 13 of the league.
Kohli also remains the top-scoring player in the T20 league with a whopping 5412 runs to his name. Having expressed confidence over the squad at his disposal, Kohli firmly believes this could be his year in the competition, and for that to happen, he would unarguably need to be among the top batters in the tournament.
2.) David Warner
Reinstated as the captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad squad, Warner has won the orange cap on three occasions already – in 2015, 2017 and 2019 seasons – and has been in fine form since the conclusion of the league last year too.
As far as his T20I scores in 2019 go, Warner has remained not-out in 5 of the 6 matches he played for Australia last year with scores of 100*, 60*, 57*, 2*, 20, 48*. He is also among the top-scoring batters in the league with a tally of 4,706 runs.
3.) KL Rahul
The Karnataka lad finished only behind Warner among the top run-getters in the league last season with a score of 593. With an additional responsibility of captaining the Kings XI Punjab squad this season, Rahul will be under the spotlight.
Having become a regular for India since the 2019 World Cup last year, Rahul has been one of the most consistent performers with the bat across the globe. Having finished at No.3 and No.2 in the runs tally the past couple of seasons, this could be the season where he takes the giant leap and wins the orange cap.
4.) Rohit Sharma
The man with the most number of IPL titles (4) as a skipper, Rohit arguably has the most balanced side to win the title this season in UAE. The veteran batsman, however, will also be in focus this season for his abilities with the bat that has made him arguably the finest white-ball opener in the world.
The previous IPL season saw him aggregate 405 runs in 15 matches at an average of 28.93. Having not won the orange cap in his IPL career so far, Rohit would be determined to add this feather to his cap this time around.
5.) Shreyas Iyer
The man who solved Team India’s No. 4 conundrum was one of the reasons why Delhi Capitals finished third in the IPL Season 12. Iyer was extremely crucial for Delhi with the bat las term, scoring 463 runs in 16 matches in what was a positive season for the franchise.
Iyer has been pretty consistent with the bat for India since the conclusion of the 2019 World Cup. The confidence he has gained over the last years is expected to be translated into his IPL performance, especially under the guidance of coach Ricky Ponting.
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