IPL 2020 Orange Cap: Mayank Agarwal displaces KL Rahul for top spot; 3 MI batsmen in contention

The Mumbai Indians (MI) put up an all-round show as they registered their biggest victory – in terms of runs – against the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) after beating them by 48 runs in the 13th match of IPL 2020 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

Captain Rohit Sharma laid the perfect foundation with a knock of 70 off 45 balls before Kieron Pollard (47 off 20 balls) and Hardik Pandya (30 off 11 balls) stitched a 67-run partnership off just 23 balls to power MI to 191/4.

In reply, the MI bowlers applied the choke from the outset as the KL Rahul-led side kept losing wickets at regular intervals before eventually finishing on 143 for 8. The win took MI to the top of the IPL 2020 points table while KXIP found themselves lingering in sixth position with just a solitary win from four matches.

Rohit Sharma’s second half-century in four matches catapulted him to fourth position on the IPL 2020 Orange Cap list with a cumulative total of 170 runs. Apart from yesterday's 70, he scored a match-winning 80 off 54 balls in MI’s second fixture against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) Sanju Samson dropped to fifth on the list, but he is just three runs short of Rohit Sharma's numbers while also having played a game less.

IPL 2020 Orange Cap list

5 of the top 8 leading run-getters in IPL 2020 featured in the KXIP vs MI clash (Image Credits: Sportskeeda)

There were changes even at the top of the IPL 2020 leading run-scorers list. Mayank Agarwal became the new Orange Cap holder and established a lead of seven runs over his opening partner, Rahul.

While Mayank followed up his 106 off 50 balls against RR on Sunday with a 25-ball 18 last night, skipper KL Rahul was dismissed for a 19-ball 17.

Nonetheless, the KXIP duo enjoy a comfortable lead at the top of the tree with aggregates of 246 runs and 239 runs respectively. Third-placed Faf du Plessis has scored 173 runs from three matches so far.

Table-toppers MI have a few representatives in the lower half of the IPL 2020 Orange Cap list as well. Kieron Pollard’s back-to-back match-defining innings helped him leapfrog to sixth position with a total of 138 runs, while 22-year-old Ishan Kishan is two spots below Pollard in eighth position with 127 runs from just two games.

Pollard, who was the Man of the Match last night, scored a swashbuckling 24-ball 60 against RCB on Monday. However, that night belonged to Ishan Kishan, with the southpaw's 58-ball 99 helping MI take the game into a Super Over.

There might be further changes on the IPL 2020 Orange Cap list tonight as bottom-placed Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will take on the Sunrisers Hyderabad in Dubai. Notably, both sides have won one out of their three matches so far.

Check out IPL 2020 schedule

While SRH’s Jonny Bairstow would look to further his tally of 119 runs and break into the top half of the IPL 2020 Orange Cap list, CSK’s Ambati Rayudu will look to return with a bang after picking up an injury post his 71-run knock against MI.