Orange Cap: Virat Kohli IPL 2016 Runs

Around 57 games of the Indian Premier League 2024 season have been played in the tournament so far and we still don’t know who are the top 4 teams that are going to make it into the playoffs of the 2024 season of the IPL. That’s how the Indian Premier League has grown over the years, giving unlimited excitement and thrillers to cricket lovers around the World. Let’s take you back to the 2016 season of the Indian Premier League and know which batsman was leading at the top by winning the Orange Cap in IPL 2016.

The 2016 season of the  Indian Premier League was one of the seasons where the greatest players were also part of the tournament at their final stage of international careers like Virendra Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and AB de Villiers. The 2016 season started with adding 2 new teams in place of Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings, who suffered 2 years ban after their team management and certain players, were involved in a match-fixing controversy during the 2012 IPL game. In respect of fulfilling the empty slots of these teams, 2 new teams were added in the 2016 tournament named Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiants, which were led by MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina.

In this season, it was really difficult, to guess which batsman would get the Orange Cap for scoring the most runs in the IPL history as it was the prime season for players like Virat Kohli, AB de Villers, Rohit Sharma, Davi Warner, who were in the top form of their international career.

1. Virat Kohli

The 2016 season of the Indian Premier League was one of the best seasons for the former Indian captain where he was the leading run-scorer in the Indian Premier League with 973 runs in 16 games with an incredible average of 81, having 4 hundred and 7 half-centuries to his name. 

Virat Kohli was at his best in the year 2016, which also helped the Royal Challengers Bangalore to reach into the finals of 2016. However, they lost the game against Sunrisers Hyderabad by 8 wickets. Virat Kohli, was named as the most valuable player of the tournament.

2. David Warner

David Warner was part of the Indian Premier League from 2009 for Delhi Daredevils under the captaincy of Virendra Sehwag till 2013. However, after playing for 5 seasons and scoring thousands of runs, the Australian batter was picked up by the new franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2014 seasons, as the captain at a whopping price of 6.25 crores.

Under the leadership of Warner, the Sunrise franchise looked different in the first 2 seasons, where he performed phenomenally by scoring more than 500 runs in 2014 and 15 seasons. However, he was unable to make his teams reach the finals during these 2 seasons, so he needed to lead his team from the front and in the next season by scoring 848 runs in 17 games with an average of 60.57 and having 9 fifties to his name he helped his team to win the maiden IPL trophy in 2016.

It was one of the best seasons for the Australian batter, where he used to play at a strike rate of 151 with an average of 60 in every game.

3. AB de Villiers

Royal Challengers was just one step away from picking up their maiden IPL trophy in 2016 season of the Indian Premier League as their main players, AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli, were in prime form for their team, which helped them to reach into the finals of the Indian premier league. After Virat Kohli, AB de Villers scored the most runs in IPL 2016 from the Bangalore-based franchise after being picked up in 2016. 

It was the best IPL season for the South African batter after representing Bangalore from 2011 to 2021 year. AB scored 687 runs in 16 games with an average of 52.25, which also includes 1 hundred and 6 fifties with a strike rate of 168.

So these were the top 3 battles of the 2016 Indian Premier League, who dominated the season. Below, I have also shared the list of players who have scored the most runs in IPL 2024 till now.

Virat Kohli

On number 1 we have Indian Cricketer Virat Kohli, who is in sublime form in the ongoing Tata Indian Premier League 2024 with 542 runs in 11 games with an average of 67.75, which includes 4 half-centuries and 1 hundred for the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise.

It would not be wrong to say that Virat Kohli is the number one contender for the 2024 Orange Cap. However, it completely depends on the Royal Challengers Bangalore team, as they need to qualify for the playoffs and are sitting in the seventh position after winning 4 games out of 11, having 8 points on the table.

2. Ruturaj Gaikwad

On number 2 we have Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, who is the second-highest leading run scorer in the IPL 2024 with 541 runs in 11 games with an average of 60.11, which includes four fifties and 1 hundred. 

We can see this young batter winning the Orange cap in IPL 2024 as Chennai Super Kings are at a far better stage than Royal Challengers Bangalore at the points table with 6 wins out of 11 games, 

3. Sanju Samson

On number 3 we have got another Indian batsman, Sanju Singh who will be seen playing in the upcoming T20 World Cup for India starting from June 2nd, 2024.

Sanju has been in phenomenal touch in the 2024 season of the IPL by being the leading run scorer for the Rajasthan team with 471 runs in 11 games with an average of 67.29, having 5 fifties under his name.