IPL 2026: Jofra Archer hits bullseye as MI bid goodbye

RR pacer Jofra Archer (second from left) celebrates the wicket of MI opener Rohit Sharma. Pic/Ashish Raje

English pacer Jofra Archer's (15-ball 32 and 3-17) all-round show helped Rajasthan Royals (RR) outclass Mumbai Indians (MI) by 30 runs at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday and storm into the Playoffs.

This was MI's 10th loss of the season as they finished ninth with just four wins. Meanwhile, RR's win took them to 16 points in 14 games and into the fourth place of the points table.

Suryakumar Yadav during the match against RR at Wankhede on Sunday. He failed to take MI over the line despite scoring 60 off 42 balls. Pic/Ashish Raje

The hosts began their unsuccessful chase of 206 by losing opener Rohit Sharma (0) and one-drop Naman Dhir (6) by the third over, with Archer striking twice. Pacer Nandre Burger (2-43) then dismissed opener Ryan Rickelton (12) as MI slumped to 38-4 inside the Powerplay.

However, Suryakumar Yadav (42-ball 60) at No.4 and Will Jacks (18-ball 33) at No.6 tried their best, stitching a 63-run fifth-wicket stand. Suryakumar added 48 runs in 25 balls with skipper Hardik Pandya (15-ball 34), but that was not enough as the hosts managed only 175-9.

Kieron Pollard. Pic/IPL

Earlier, MI put RR in to bat and thanks to some disciplined bowling, restricted the visitors to 54-3 in the Powerplay. Both openers - Mumbai boy Yashasvi Jaiswal (17-ball 27) and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (4) - were back in the pavilion by the fifth over.

Despite no individual scoring a half-century, RR managed to post 205-8 on the board, with wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel (26-ball 38), Archer (15-ball 32), and Dasun Shanaka (15-ball 29) contributing.

MI's batting coach Kieron Pollard admitted it has been a disappointing season. "To be honest, it has been a season of what ifs. If this had happened, if we had done this, if we had done that. It's a bit of that. Overall, it has been disappointing for all of us. As a Mumbai Indians team, I'm sure the fans and everyone would have felt the same. There's no hiding from that. We weren't good enough throughout the tournament," Pollard said during the post-match press conference on Sunday.

Pollard credited Archer for his all-around performance. "Not only did he [Archer] bowl well, he batted fantastically as well. Jofra is a class act in any form of cricket. He has bowled some fiery spells throughout this tournament. And today [Sunday], not only did he bowl quickly, but he used variation, changed the pace and stuff like that."

19
No. of ducks for Rohit Sharma in IPL - joint-most with Glenn Maxwell

19.51
Rohit Sharma's batting average against RR - the lowest by any player against a single opponent after a minimum of 30 innings

38
No. of sixes for Ryan Rickelton in the ongoing IPL - joint-most for MI in a single IPL edition alongside Suryakumar Yadav (38 in 2025)

15
No. of sixes smashed by RR on Sunday - the most against MI in an IPL innings

10
No. of 200-plus totals at Wankhede in IPL-19 - the most at a venue this season