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Winning the Orange Cap (most tournament runs) or the Purple Cap (most tournament wickets) is considered the pinnacle of individual success in the Indian Premier League.
It highlights a player who has completely outclassed every other competitor over a gruelling two-month season. Yet, cricket remains a team sport.
On several occasions, a superstar has carried their franchise on their back, rewriting record books, while the rest of the squad collapsed around them.
These one-man army campaigns often result in an individual standing on the podium holding a prestigious cap, despite their team languishing near the bottom of the points table. Here are six times a player won an IPL cap but failed to reach the playoffs.
1. Chris Gayle – Royal Challengers Bangalore (2012)
- The Cap: Orange Cap (733 runs)
- Team Finish: 5th place (Missed Playoffs)
The Universe Boss from West Indies was at the absolute peak of his destructive powers during the 2012 season. Opening the batting for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Gayle smashed 733 runs at a staggering strike rate of 160.74, including seven fifties and a hundred.
Despite his historic aerial assault, RCB’s bowling unit repeatedly failed to defend massive totals. The team tied on points with Chennai Super Kings but was brutally eliminated from the playoff spots due to an inferior net run rate.
2. Andrew Tye – Kings XI Punjab (2018)
- The Cap: Purple Cap (24 wickets)
- Team Finish: 7th place (Missed Playoffs)
Australia variations specialist Andrew Tye had a historic individual season with Kings XI Punjab in 2018. Tye claimed a staggering three four-wicket hauls over the course of the tournament, repeatedly saving his side during the death overs.
However, Punjab suffered a catastrophic second-half collapse. After winning five of their first six games, the team’s middle-order batting completely disintegrated, winning just one more match and leaving Tye to collect his cap from the second-to-last spot on the table.
Also read: Biggest IPL blowouts ever – the most dominant wins in history
3. Harshal Patel – Punjab Kings (2024)
- The Cap: Purple Cap (24 wickets)
- Team Finish: 9th place (Missed Playoffs)
Harshal Patel created history by becoming the first bowler to win the Purple Cap for two completely different franchises. Moving to the Punjab Kings in 2024, his masterclass of slower balls and dipping yorkers earned him 24 scalps.
Unfortunately, Punjab’s familiar curse struck again. Plagued by top-order collapses and an inability to close out tight matches, the franchise finished second from bottom, rendering Harshal’s individual brilliance an afterthought in a lost season.
4. Sai Sudharsan – Gujarat Titans (2025)
- The Cap: Orange Cap (759 runs)
- Team Finish: 6th place (Missed Playoffs)
The IPL 2025 season witnessed the magnificent rise of Gujarat Titans opener Sai Sudharsan. The young left-hander displayed unbelievable consistency, scoring a monumental 759 runs with six half-centuries and a brilliant hundred.
He consistently anchored the innings while superstar teammates struggled for rhythm around him.
Despite holding off immense pressure from Mumbai’s Suryakumar Yadav to win the crown, Sudharsan’s individual masterclass wasn’t enough to drag a misfiring Gujarat side into the top four playoff spots.
Read next: The next big thing? Five uncapped IPL stars set to dominate in the future
The post 4 IPL superstars who won the orange or purple cap but missed the playoffs appeared first on Cricket365.
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