IPL 2020 Orange Cap: 20-year-old Padikkal breaks into the top 5 but CSK duo can go top tonight

There were lots of heroics with the bat as the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) beat the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 10 runs in the third match of IPL 2020 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on September 21. Mayank Agarwal remains the ‘Orange Cap’ holder, but two players each from SRH and RCB have broken into the top 10.

Though SRH’s Jonny Bairstow was the top scorer from either side with 61 runs, all the attention was garnered by 20-year-old Devdutt Padikkal, who scored 56 on his IPL debut to give RCB the ideal start on a sluggish wicket. This means that the Bangalore opener has now scored a fifty on his first-class, List A, T20 and IPL debuts.

Bairstow, however, occupies the third position while Padikkal is placed two slots below him in fifth. Nonetheless, being opening batters, both of them will be top contenders in pursuit of the ‘Orange Cap’. For the record, an SRH player has been the highest run-getter in four of the previous five IPL seasons.

The IPL 2020 timetable has been updated check here.

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IPL 2020 Orange Cap list

KXIP's Mayank Agarwal remains the 'Orange Cap' holder but faces fierce competition (Image Credits: Sportskeeda)

The two other batting performances came from AB de Villiers and Manish Pandey. While De Villiers provided the much-needed impetus at the back end of the innings with a 30-ball 51, Pandey scored 34 off 33 balls in SRH’s 71-run second wicket partnership.

The second and fourth positions on the list are occupied by Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) Ambati Rayudu and Faf du Plessis, who will face the Rajasthan Royals (RR) tonight in Sharjah. Thus, both of them have an opportunity to surpass Agarwal’s tally of 89 runs and be the new holders of the IPL 2020 ‘Orange Cap’.

There is also a slight possibility of someone from the Royals coming within touching distance of the top three. The CSK duo, however, have the best opportunity to challenge for the ‘Orange Cap’, because not only do they both bat in the top order, but they also play their third match as early as September 25.

But we can’t discount even the slightest of odds, owing to the highly competitive nature of the richest cricket league in the world.

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