Rohit Sharma has had a flying start to IPL 2026, acquiring the prestigious Orange Cap for the first time in his career. Mumbai Indians opener, cracked 5 fours and a six against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley stadium on April 4.
Opening the innings following the departure of opener Ryan Rickelton, Sharma scored a decent 35 runs in 26 deliveries, ensuring a solid start to Mumbai Indians innings. This came after a spectacular 78 run innings from 38 deliveries against Kolkata Knight Riders last weekend at Wankhede Stadium, which guided MI's successful chase of a huge 221-run target with 6 wickets and 5 balls to spare.
These two powerful innings have seen Sharma record 113 runs so far in IPL 2026 from just two games at a mind-blowing average of 56.50 and leapfrog Punjab Kings' Aussie recruit Cooper Connolly for temporary ownership of the Orange Cap.
Sharma who is 38 years old, has been a specialist of big, match winning knocks but this is the first occasion on which he has owned the Orange Cap, and from the look of his performances, he will continue to remain a huge threat to bag this title by the end of the tournament.
Rohit Sharma's Personal best performance and current form
Rohit Sharma's best IPL season was his first season as captain of Mumbai Indians back in 2013, taking over the reins from Ricky Ponting after which he scored 538 runs in 19 innings at a decent average of 38.42 and a brilliant strike rate of 131.54 with 4 half-centuries. But even that performance put him at sixth place in the list of top run scorers and the orange cap went to CSK's Michael Hussey that year.
Mumbai Indians reached a total of 162 runs despite losing early wickets on Saturday, and it was skipper Suryakumar Yadav, who scored 51 off just 36 balls. Naman Dhir and Rohit also chipped in with valuable runs, and this superb batting performance by MI signifies the intensity to retain their title in this IPL.