IPL Play Of The Day: RR unleash Jofra Archer's master plan to punch a play-off ticket

It was a day when Rajasthan Royals needed to step up and secure a win. They were at the Wankhede against Mumbai Indians with the fate of a play-off spot in their own hands. The Royals needed to do something different from their usual style, and they did this by releasing the jack-of-all-trades, Jofra Archer, into their ranks.

After losing the toss and being put to bat. The last time these two teams met in Guwahati, it was Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi who sealed the deal with their explosive batting. But that did not happen this time, both men fell to the fifth point.

MI vs RR: Highlights | Scorecard

Attention then focused on RR’s middle order, who struggled in situations like this. Riyan Parag fell again to shift control to RR. Then came the first bluff when Donovan Ferreira was shielded from Dasun Shanaka. The Sri Lankan all-rounder managed to counter the spin choke but collapsed to 99 in the 11th over.

Ferreira stepped in and slowly stabilized the ship, but Jurel also fell. With Ravindra Jadeja reluctant to leave, you’d imagine he’s the next man up. But along came Archer, to the surprise of many.

People questioned the move and were left scratching their heads. With seven overs to go, they had Shubham Dubey and Jadeja in their ranks. Both men can hit the long ball and score at good pace.

And then Archer unleashed a storm that was enough to blow the MI away. It was something that was not expected and it took MI without Jasprit Bumrah by surprise.

While his bowling secured victory on the day, Archer’s all-round performance today earned the Play Of The Day accolade as it helped RR secure their qualification for the play-offs.

ARCHER EXITS as a pawn

In chess, to protect your main pieces, you sometimes sacrifice your pawn to go out and make some moves. This has been the tactic we see in the IPL with KKR finding success using Sunil Narine. MI used it during their title seasons using Mitchell McCleneghan.

The goal is to get a quick run up of 20-30 runs that can quickly change the final score. The idea here was the same as Archer’s.

RR captain Riyan Parag said this at the post-match presentation that they didn’t want two batsmen to play anchor roles at that time and wanted Archer to hit 200+.

“We wanted one of the batsmen to play a bit longer and we needed runs. It’s a wicket where you can’t have 2 players batting for 100. So we wanted one guy who could take the initiative and take risks so the other one could stay longer and Jadeja is as reliable as ever. I knew the back end – he would get us at least 25 from 10,” said Parag, which he did.

Once Ferreira dropped in 16th, RR needed to act quickly and ride a good pace. It was still the track they were running on and going hard was the order of the day.

At that point, if Jadeja had come, he would have taken time to settle and that would not have helped RR’s cause.

Archer started it all with a six in the same over as Ferreira was dismissed and then got another maximum. He followed that up and took Shardul down for a boundary and a six before being dismissed.

But by then he had scored 32 off 15 balls to ensure the game tilted in favor of the Royals. Eventually Jadeja came in to provide a late boost of boundaries and some shenanigans at the expense of Shardul.

It was a risky move. A bluff that could have gone either way. If it works out, you’re a mastermind. Otherwise you will be called out on your stupidity.

Kumar Sangakkara called it a puzzle at the time and said he wanted to keep Ferreira and Dubey at the back.

“It’s always guessing. Great when it works. Ugly when it doesn’t. We wanted Archer to take a bit of a risk and then Ferreira and Dubey took care of the last few overs when the bowlers were tired in the sun. Ferreira got out but Jofra bowled and Jadeja, who came in, did well with the elbow. We should have called 220 to Sangkar but we got to 206 too.

It was a full circle moment for Archer when the knock came against MI, the team that dropped him. And he returned to the team he always adored and now he has truly repaid with a brilliant performance with the bat.

“He’s really invested in the team, he’s helped everyone and he’s done really well since the start of the season. He’s spearheaded our bowling attack. He bowled really well today, but before that he was exceptional with the bat and got us into the playoffs,” Archer said.

Now that the playoffs are in full swing, will RR pull the Narine or McCleneghan card with Archer as well? I guess only time will tell.

– The end

Published on:

25 May 2026 03:00 IST

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