IPL 2020 Orange Cap: Rohit Sharma in second position but there might be a new leader tonight

Defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) finally broke their United Arab Emirates (UAE) jinx as an all-round effort saw them prevail over the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 49 runs in Match 5 of IPL 2020 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

Rohit Sharma’s love affair with Kolkata followed the Knights to Abu Dhabi as he anchored the innings with a 54-ball 80 and, in turn, bagged the Man of the Match award. Though he got dismissed for a measly 12 on the IPL 2020 opening night against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), last night’s heroics saw him climb up to second place on the IPL 2020 Orange Cap list.

Although Rohit is 38 runs away from current holder Faf du Plessis, there's just a 3-run gap between the MI skipper and third-placed Mayank Agarwal. Ideally, Rohit is most likely to move one spot down considering Mayank will be in action tonight against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).

Regardless, the MI skipper will take a lot of heart from the 80 runs he managed to score on a sluggish wicket and would look to establish a bigger lead in the race for the Orange Cap when they play next against RCB on September 28.

IPL 2020 Orange Cap list

Mayank Agarwal and Devdutt Padikkal will climb the charts tonight (Image Credits: Sportskeeda)

Another player who looked in fine form was Suryakumar Yadav. Despite losing Quinton de Kock in the very first over, Yadav did not fail to take the attack to the KKR bowlers. Hitting pacers and spinners alike, the former KKR batsman followed up his 17 off 16 balls in Match 1 of IPL 2020 with a 28-ball 47 last night. He sits in the seventh position with a cumulative total of 64 runs.

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Separated by just a solitary run is his teammate Saurabh Tiwary. After scoring an impressive 42 off 31 balls in the opening match of this year's IPL, Tiwary looked to counter-attack the KKR bowlers but eventually got dismissed for a 13-ball 21. He is eighth on the list – just two runs above Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) batter Jonny Bairstow.

Changes in the IPL 2020 Orange Cap table are inevitable in a few hours time as third-placed RCB will take on the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in Dubai.

While Mayank can very well claim the Orange Cap from du Plessis, one shouldn’t be surprised if 20-year-old Devdutt Padikkal continues from where he left off after scoring a swashbuckling 56 against SRH on Monday.