With IPL 2020 being held in the United Arab Emirates,
unsurprisingly the craze for the domestic T20 from a largely cricket-starved
home audience will be felt during the extravaganza that Indian Premier League
2021 might turn out to be. While no decision has been taken on in-person
attendance as of now, a government regulation from earlier in the year did
allow in-person entry for 50% audience, based on the seating capacity of the
concerned stadium.

The league itself, in terms of both quality of play and
competition, saw a top-notch contestation this past year, and special mentions
in the list for players who truly lit up the league would be bowlers such as
Kagiso Rabada, and batsmen like KL Rahul, who claimed the Purple and the Orange
cap respectively, meant for the bowler and the batsman with the best overall
performance in the league.

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With margins being as tight as 40 runs or three wickets
between the first and second placed bowlers or batsmen in the lists, it is a
given that the players would need to perform consistently as well as superbly
throughout the duration of the tournament in order to claim or keep their top
spot.

Having said that, below listed are entries for Orange and
Purple caps who, based on their previous performances, skills, experience or
all of these combined, might just go on to win the respective caps for
themselves in 2021.

Orange Cap contenders:

David Warner: Warner has consistently been in the
race for the Orange Cap for a few years now, and won it in 2019. The Sunrisers
Hyderabad opener scored a total of 548 runs in IPL 2020, with just Kings XI
Punjab captain KL Rahul and Delhi Capitals’ batsman Shikhar Dhawan above him in
last year’s races, with a strike rate of 134.64 and a high score of 85 not out,
it might just be his lucky year again.

Devdutt Padikkal: The dynamic batsman from Edapal,
Kerala represents Karnataka in domestic cricket, and caught quite a few eyes
last year’s IPL, scoring 473 runs from 15 matches. One of Royal Challengers
Bangalore’s opening pair, Padikkal’s brilliance on-crease has a real potential
to shine through this year, despite him ending the past year with an average
strike rate of 124.80

Shreyas Iyer: Iyer’s rise through the Delhi Capital
system has catapulted him on to the national cricket scenario, and helped him
gain a foothold as a potential future choice for India’s limited-over teams.
Also having featured in last year’s top five contenders for the Orange Cap,
Shreyas Iyer ended his stint in IPL 2020 with a total of 519 runs alongside a
high-score of 88 not-out.

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Purple Cap contenders:

Jasprit Bumrah: It’s been a long time coming. At this
juncture of time, there cannot be much debate regarding Bumrah’s place in the
Indian cricket team, regardless of the format. Be it Test, One Day
Internationals or T-20 matches, the Mumbai Indians does it all, and does it
everywhere. Bumrah’s performance in IPL 2020 fell closely short of the topmost
position along bowlers, being edged by Delhi Capital’s Kagiso Rabada by a mere
three wickets. The lethal Mumbai Indians pacer will undoubtably be eyeing the
top spot this year.

Rahul Tewatia: Rahul Tewatia can be best described as
the proverbial dark horse when it comes to the IPL. Tewatia did a rather
underappreciated job in Rajasthan Royals. Just by looking at statistics, it
might seem strange, even redundant to place Tewatia in either list here. A live
audience, however, might beg to differ. An uncanny prowess of taking wickets in
quick succession added to the entire arsenal of a classic leggie makes Tewatia
a little-noted, but a dangerous weapon.

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Pat Cummins: Yet another underrated bowler in T20
settings, Cummins played an important in leading the Kolkata Knight Riders pace
attack. Despite his conceding tendencies at times, a little variation in swing,
especially reverse swing, can turn Cummins deadlier in Indian pitches. His
recent Test performance in India’s tour of Australia speaks for itself, and
although he expresses his best self in Test matches, the right arm fast bowler
who ended his last IPL season with 12 wickets, has the mark of a champion if
utilises his options well.