Brendon McCullum became the first player to wear the Orange Cap,[3] and Shaun Marsh became the first winner of the award.
The then IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi said of the initiative, "Cricket is often remembered and recorded as statistics and not by material distinctions.
The DLF Indian Premier League will create a distinction for the best performing batsman, which will be cherished and valued by each player through this initiative.
The purpose of this initiative is to be innovative, create another unique piece of history that sets the DLF Indian Premier League apart from the crowd, and to reward outstanding achievements by the players.
In case of a tie, the bowler with superior economy rate would hold the Purple Cap.
[22] So far only Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Dwayne Bravo, and Harshal Patel have won the Purple Cap twice.
Dwayne Bravo and Harshal Patel scalped 32 wickets in the 2013 Indian Premier League and 2021 Indian Premier League respectively, the most for any bowlers in a single edition of the tournament but Dwayne Bravo remains ahead of Harshal Patel because of better economy rate of the two as per the IPL rules.
The then IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi said of the initiative, "We have seen over the course of the inaugural season of the League so far that bowlers have just as important a role to play in winning T20 matches as batsmen do.