Jofra Archer shone in hot and humid conditions in Mumbai. Jofra Archer not only shone with the ball in hand, but also shone with the bat as his all-round display went a long way in helping Rajasthan Royals (RR) upstaging Mumbai Indians (MI) by 30 runs and grabbing the 4th qualifying spot. Put into bat first, the Royals put on a decent batting display with Archer playing a cameo of his own and others chipping in to power RR to a competitive 205/8 in 20 overs with the last 30 runs coming off 12 balls.
In reply, MI tried hard, but Archer stole the show with his 3/17 and others chipped in as Suryakumar Yadav’s half-century was not enough as MI avoided the wooden spoon but ended with 175/9 where we saw glimpses from Hardik Pandya as well. They were good in patches, but still lost the match. RR qualified for the playoffs with this win.
All-Round bowling display led by Dhruv Jurel & Jofra Archer powered RR to 205/8 in 20 overs
Put into bat first, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi opened the batting for RR while Deepak Chahar started the proceedings for MI. Vaibhav was quiet but Jaiswal was quickly off the blocks and scored the bulk of the runs in power play. He hit some crisp maximums down the ground. He put on 33 runs for the first wicket with Vaibhav before Jaiswal was the first to depart for 27 off 17 balls with 1 four and 3 sixes to his name to Will Jacks. Keeper batter Dhruv Jurel came out to bat next. The score stayed at 33 before Vaibhav fell for 4 off 6 balls to Deepak Chahar.
Captain Riyan Parag came out to bat next inside the power play. Parag started well and hit the clean shots for boundaries and sixes. The duo added 21 runs for the third wicket before Parag fell for 14 off 8 balls with 2 fours and one six to his name to Allah Ghazanfar. The score for RR was 54/3 in 6 overs of power play. Dasun Shanaka came out to bat post power play.
Jurel and Shanaka forged together a nice partnership together and led the recovery trail for the Royals. They put on 45 runs for the 4th wicket before Shanaka was run out for 29 off 15 balls with 3 sixes to his name as he was unfortunately run out. Donovan Ferreira came out to bat next. Jurel and Ferreira tried to forge some sort of a partnership and added 20 runs for the 5th wicket before the set batter Jurel fell for 38 off 26 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes to his name. Jofra Archer promoted himself up the order.
Archer came and used the long handle really well. Ferreira and Archer added 20 runs for the 6th wicket before Ferreira fell for 18 off 15 balls with 2 sixes to his name to Deepak Chahar. Shubham Dubey came out to bat next and failed to make any impact. Archer and Dubey forged a partnership as Archer took on the bowling while Dubey was just hanging in there. Archer was doing all the heavy lifting if we are being honest about it. The duo of Dubey and Archer added 35 runs for the 7th wicket before Dubey fell for 5 off 6 balls to Shardul Thakur. Impact Player Ravindra Jadeja came out to bat next.
Just one run was added to the tally before Archer tried to go for the big one and was dismissed. Archer fell for a well-made 32 off 15 balls with one four and three sixes to his name to Thakur. Nandre Burger came to the crease as the RR team scored more than the previous game. They zoomed past the 200-run mark. The duo added 30 runs in the last 12 balls and changed the momentum of the game. From 175/8 to 205/8 in 20 overs, as RR had the momentum in the interval.
Jadeja stayed unbeaten on 19 off 11 balls with 3 fours to his name while Nandre Burger finished with an unbeaten 10 off 3 balls with one six to his name as MI ended with a disappointing note yet again. 9 extras given by the fielding side. RR finished with a competitive 205/8 in 20 overs.
From MI’s bowling point of view, Deepak Chahar got two new ball wickets and finish the game off quickly. Chahar finished with 2/43 in 4 overs. Shardul Thakur finished with 2/41 in 4 overs. Will Jacks finished with 1/12 in 2 overs. Allah Ghazanfar was taken to the cleaners as went for 45 runs in 3 overs with a wicket. Corbin Bosch chipped in with 1/38 in 4 overs. Raghu Sharma bowled 3 overs for 25 runs. This will mean MI needed 206 to win off 20 overs to win the game.
Jofra Archer’s 3-wicket haul upstages Suryakumar Yadav’s 60, as RR upstaged MI by 30 runs to qualify for playoffs
Chasing 206 for the win, Impact Player Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton came out to bat. Jofra Archer had the ball in hand for RR. Rohit made 0 impact tonight as he fell for a 4-ball duck to Archer. Naman Dhir came out to bat next and got himself a boundary. Rickelton got himself going as the duo added 18 runs for the second wicket before Naman was cleaned up by Archer for 6 off 5 balls with one four to his name. Suryakumar Yadav came out to bat next. Just 6 runs were added to the score before Rickelton fell for 12 off 7 balls with one four and one six to his name to Nandre Burger.
Tilak Varma came out to bat next. Surya got himself going and started to attack the bowlers. The duo of Surya and Tilak added 14 runs for the 4th wicket before Tilak was cleaned up by Brijesh Sharma for 3 off 7 balls cleaning him up again. Will Jacks came to the crease next. The power play score was 49/4 in 6 overs of power play. Jacks and Surya tried to build a stand and get them ready for the big event in 2027 i.e. the World Cup.
But both of them were unable to drive home the advantage. Surya and Jacks added 63 runs for the 5th wicket before Jacks was removed for 33 off 18 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes to his name to Punja. Captain Hardik Pandya came out to bat next. Pandya was quickly off the blocks and he and Surya brough the target down from high to lukewarm cold weather. Surya and Hardik when batting looked like the game was slipping away.
The duo added 48 runs in quick time as Hardik got lucky as he fell exactly for 34 off 15 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes to his name as Hardik was angry with his mates and fans. Archer got Hardik’s wicket. Corbin Bosch came out to bat next. He came, saw and left the country. Just 3 runs were added to the score before Bosch fell for 2 off 4 balls to Yash Raj Punja. Shardul Thakur came out to bat next. Surya and Thakur tried to keep the fight going for MI and managed to add 6 runs to the tally before Surya the big fish fell for 60 off 42 balls with 3 fours and 4 sixes to his name to Burger.
Deepak Chahar joined Thakur in the middle and got a maximum away. The duo dragged along and added 9 runs for the 9th wicket before Deepak fell for 8 off 5 balls with one six to his name to Brijesh Sharma. Allah Ghazanfar came out to bat to join Thakur in the middle. Thakur and Ghazanfar added 8 runs for the final wicket unbeaten as MI settled for 175/9 in 20 overs with Thakur unbeaten on 10 off 11 balls with one four to his name while Ghazanfar was unbeaten on 2 off 3 balls. 5 extras given by the fielding side.
For RR, Jofra Archer was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/17 in 4 overs. Brijesh Sharma finished with 2/26 in 4 overs. Nandre Burger ended with 2/43 in 4 overs. Yash Raj Punja finished with 2/44 in 4 overs. Ravindra Jadeja finished with 0/24 in 2 overs. Dasun Shanaka finished with 0/21 in 2 overs. So, RR beat MI in Mumbai by 30 runs to qualify for the playoffs. Jofra Archer was awarded the Player of the Match.
What Lies Ahead
So, RR clinches the final playoff spot and finishes in 4th place. MI finished in 9th place. We are set for the playoffs. Qualifier 1 will feature RCB against GT in Dharamsala while the Eliminator will feature SRH up against RR in New Chandigarh. These matches will be played on 26th and 27th of this month next week. The final match between KKR and DC in the league stage in Kolkata is ongoing and is a dead rubber now.
Let’s see how the playoffs stage has instore for us.
Also Read:Â MI vs RR: RR Aims To Secure 4th Playoff Spot In Must-Win Clash