IPL 2023: Tom Moody and AB de Villiers suggest new criteria to award ‘Orange Cap’

Tom Moody and AB de Villiers. (Photo Source: Twitter)

The Indian Premier League season 16 has got off to a great start as the tournament has treated fans with several memorable encounters in the first 12 days. The ongoing season has also brought some new rules and innovations which are making the game even more entertaining for fans worldwide.

Further suggesting one more change in the T20 extravaganza, former Australia cricketer Tom Moody has said that the winner of the ‘Orange Cap’ should be adjudged on the basis of the number of runs scored and strike rate combined. Moody’s suggestion has also got support from former South Africa cricketer AB de Villiers who said that he’s been asking for the same for a long time.

Moody took to Twitter and wrote, “The highly sought after Orange Cap should be judged with S/R in mind. I believe runs + S/R combined are more valuable/relevant in #T20. This would also include middle-order batters who are rarely in contention. What that formula is, I’ll leave to the experts.”

De Villiers replied, “Been saying this for ages. No brainer. It’s a comp between 1,2 and possible/rarely number 3 batters.”

The Orange cap is awarded to players who finish as the highest run-scorer at the end of every season. During the ongoing season, the cap was briefly held by David Warner who has scored 209 runs in four innings at an average of 52.25 and a below-par strike rate of 114.83. Though Warner has scored runs, his knocks haven’t helped Delhi Capitals to win matches which have sparked the debate around changing the criteria for the award.

Michael Hussey and KL Rahul are the only two orange cap winners with a strike rate of under 130

In the history of Orange Cap winners, only Michael Hussey and KL Rahul have won the award with a season strike rate of below 130 in the years 2013, and 2020, respectively. In 2013, Chris Gayle was the second-highest run-scorer with 708 runs at a strike rate of 156.29 having played one innings lesser than Hussey.

As far as De Villiers is concerned, the South African legend played at number three for a major part of his career during the IPL. His best-ever season was in 2016, where he scored 687 runs at an average of 52.84 and a strike rate of 168.79 and finished as the third-highest run scorer of the season.