IPL 2020: 5 dark horses who could win the Orange Cap for the first time
The 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will commence next month in the United Arab Emirates, and we will finally get to see the world's best players in action after months.
With the tournament expected to be a run-fest as usual, batsmen can be expected to notch up massive scores to shepherd their teams to the playoffs.
Orange Cap winners in the IPL
Last year, David Warner won the Orange Cap, which is awarded to the leading run-scorer in the IPL season, with 692 runs in 12 games. The Australian has won the accolade 3 times, the most in the history of the IPL, and except him, only Chris Gayle has won the accolade more than once.
In an IPL season, Virat Kohli's 973 runs in the 2016 IPL is the highest total by a batsman.
Apart from the usual suspects, we take a look at 5 dark horses who could win the Orange Cap for the first time in the 2020 IPL.
Honourable Mentions: Quinton de Kock, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer
#5 Suresh Raina
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) superstar Suresh Raina has been one of the most consistent batsmen in the history of the IPL, leading to him being given the moniker 'Mr. IPL'.
The elegant southpaw has scored over 350 runs in all IPL seasons (more than 400 runs in 10 seasons as well) and is the second-highest run-scorer in the league behind only Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Virat Kohli. However, Raina has never won the Orange Cap in all his years in the IPL.
The CSK No. 3 now finds himself outside the Indian team and clearly has a point to prove in the upcoming IPL edition. An excellent season for MS Dhoni's men could well win him an international recall, and Raina himself will be highly motivated to prove his detractors, who claim that he is far past his prime, wrong.
CSK's fortunes also hinge on Raina, and he will have to be at his best on the turning pitches of UAE if they are to seriously fight for the title.