Mohammad Kaif, an ex-India cricketer and RCB player, has expressed his concern regarding the Purple Cap in the IPL, which is awarded to the bowler who has taken the most wickets in a season. According to Kaif, this cap does not often take into account the real worth of some bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah and Sunil Narine. Kaif cited Bumrah as an example of steers on the contradiction in the current system. Bumrah is a topmost class bowler who controls runs but isn't that successful in taking wickets. Batters generally play safe against him, and yet, his economy rate is outstanding. Kaif also asked if the Purple Cap means only a number of wickets when there are bowlers like Bumrah, who impact matches with other ways. Purple Cap rules seem unfair for bowlers like Bumrah! pic.twitter.com/15SAFWp07z — Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) May 1, 2025 Talking further about comparisons, Kaif spoke about the Orange Cap that goes to the highest run-getter. He said it generally rewards those openers who bat long but do not score fast, whereas those middle-order hitters capable of changing a game with their explosive batting are not given much consideration. Out of the three winners of Purple Cap, the only three to have also won the IPL title are Sohail Tanvir (RR) and RP Singh (DCG) in the first two seasons while Bhuvneshwar Kumar (SRH) repeated this in 2016. For the other 14 seasons, though, the leading wicket-taker's team has never won the title. List of Purple Cap winners in IPL: Player Name Wickets Team Year IPL won that season Sohail Tanvir 22 Rajasthan Royals 2008 Yes RP Singh 23 Deccan Chargers 2009 Yes Pragyan Ojha 21 Deccan Chargers 2010 No Lasith Malinga 28 Mumbai Indians 2011 No Morne Morkel 25 Delhi Daredevils 2012 No Dwayne Bravo 32 Chennai Super Kings 2013 No Mohit Sharma 23 Chennai Super Kings 2014 No Dwayne Bravo 26 Chennai Super Kings 2015 No Bhuvneshwar Kumar 23 Sunrisers Hyderabad 2016 Yes Bhuvneshwar Kumar 26 Sunrisers Hyderabad 2017 No Andre Tye 24 Kings XI Punjab 2018 No Imran Tahir 26 Chennai Super Kings 2019 No Kagiso Rabada 30 Delhi Capitals 2020 No Harshal Patel 32 Royal Challengers Bengaluru 2021 No Yuzvendra Chahal 27 Rajasthan Royals 2022 No Mohammed Shami 28 Gujarat Titans 2023 No Harshal Patel 24 Punjab Kings 2024 No In IPL 2025, Josh Hazlewood of RCB leads the race for the Purple Cap with 18 wickets from 10 matches. He thus far has bowled 36.5 overs and given away 311 runs at a decent economy of 8.44. In second place is Gujarat Titans' Prasidh Krishna, with 17 wickets from 9 matches. Jasprit Bumrah is back after an injury and has taken 11 wickets in 7 matches for Mumbai Indians, putting himself in 19th place. However, his economy rate of 6.96 shows how tough it is to score off him, which highlights the folly of judging bowlers solely by the number of wickets they take.