Yashasvi Jaiswal leads IPL 2026 Orange Cap race with 170 runs in three games

Three games into IPL 2026, Yashasvi Jaiswal has been dismissed exactly once. That single wicket has cost him 170 runs at a strike rate of 163.46. He is the leading run-scorer in the tournament, holds the Orange Cap, and is making the argument that Rajasthan Royals' unbeaten start is built largely around what he does in the first six overs.

RR sit at the top of the IPL 2026 points table with six points from three wins. They have beaten Chennai Super Kings, Gujarat Titans, and Mumbai Indians. Each time, Jaiswal has been at the centre of it.

What the numbers actually say about Jaiswal's season

Jaiswal's 170 runs have come across three innings. His scores read 39, 54, and 77 not out. He passed fifty in two of those three games and has been unbeaten twice. His average sits at 170.00 because he has only been out once, which makes the average a bit misleading, but the volume of runs and the speed at which he scores them are both genuine.

His highest score this season, 77 not out off 32 balls, came against Mumbai Indians in a rain-reduced 11-over game in Guwahati on April 7. He hit 10 fours and four sixes in that knock. With the game cut to 11 overs per side, the powerplay was compressed to 3.2 overs, and Jaiswal still found a way to pace his innings and finish unbeaten at the end.

He surpassed Delhi Capitals' Sameer Rizvi, who had been leading the charts with 160 runs from two games, to take the Orange Cap after that MI match. Rizvi made a duck against Gujarat Titans on April 8, which opened the gap further. Jaiswal now leads by 10 runs.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi at 15: the other half of RR's opening stand

Jaiswal's opening partner is Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who turned 15 in March. Sooryavanshi has scored 122 runs in three innings and sits fourth on the IPL 2026 run-getters list. Together, the two left-handers have put on 225 runs in 106 balls across their three opening stands this season.

Against Mumbai, Sooryavanshi faced Jasprit Bumrah for the first time in his career. He hit him for a six off the first ball. He then hit another one in the same over. Jaiswal later said in a post-match interview that Sooryavanshi's aggression against Bumrah took the pressure off him and allowed him to rotate the strike against the other bowlers without worrying about the run rate.

For a 15-year-old playing in his first IPL season, Sooryavanshi's ability to read the game in those situations is unusual. He is not just hitting the ball hard. He is picking his moments, which is a different thing entirely.

Where Rajasthan stand in the IPL 2026 table

RR are on six points, ahead of Punjab Kings on net run rate. PBKS have five points from three matches. RCB and Delhi Capitals are both on four points from two games each. The table is tight at the top, and Rajasthan's next game on April 10 against RCB will be a direct contest between two of the best-performing sides in the first two weeks of the season.

RR's bowling has also held up well. Ravi Bishnoi leads the Purple Cap race with seven wickets from three games. Jofra Archer has three wickets, and Nandre Burger has five. The bowling unit has not leaked as freely as some of the other top-order-heavy teams in the tournament.

Orange Cap standings after 15 matches

Jaiswal leads with 170 runs. Sameer Rizvi of Delhi Capitals is second with 160. Heinrich Klaasen of Sunrisers Hyderabad is third with 145. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi sits fourth with 122, and Rohit Sharma of Mumbai Indians rounds out the top five. RCB's Virat Kohli has 96 runs from two innings and will likely enter the top five conversation after the April 10 match against Rajasthan.

Ravichandran Ashwin, speaking on his YouTube channel after the RR vs MI game, said Jaiswal is his pick for the Orange Cap at the end of the season. He placed Shubman Gill in the same bracket but noted that Gill missed one match through injury, which gives Jaiswal a head start in terms of both runs and consistency.

Jaiswal's next chance to extend his lead comes on April 10 against RCB at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati, a ground where he has already scored 39 and 77 not out in this season alone.