IPL 2026: Archer hits bullseye as Mumbai Indians bid goodbye

English pacer Jofra Archerrsquos 15ball 32 and 317 allround show helped Rajasthan Royals RR outclass Mumbai Indians MI by 30 runs at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday and storm into the PlayoffsThis was MIrsquos 10th loss of the season as they finished ninth with just four wins Meanwhile RRrsquos win took them to 16 points in 14 games and into the fourth place of the points tableSuryakumar Yadav during the match against RR at Wankhede on Sunday He failed to take MI over the line despite scoring 60 off 42 balls PicAshish RajeThe hosts began their unsuccessful chase of 206 by losing opener Rohit Sharma 0 and onedrop Naman Dhir 6 by the third over with Archer striking twice Pacer Nandre Burger 243 then dismissed opener Ryan Rickelton 12 as MI slumped to 384 inside the PowerplayHowever Suryakumar Yadav 42ball 60 at No4 and Will Jacks 18ball 33 at No6 tried their best stitching a 63run fifthwicket stand Suryakumar added 48 runs in 25 balls with skipper Hardik Pandya 15ball 34 but that was not enough as the hosts managed only 1759Kieron Pollard PicIPLEarlier MI put RR in to bat and thanks to some disciplined bowling restricted the visitors to 543 in the Powerplay Both openers mdash Mumbai boy Yashasvi Jaiswal 17ball 27 and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 4 mdash were back in the pavilion by the fifth overDespite no individual scoring a halfcentury RR managed to post 2058 on the board with wicketkeeperbatter Dhruv Jurel 26ball 38 Archer 15ball 32 and Dasun Shanaka 15ball 29 contributingMIrsquos batting coach Kieron Pollard admitted it has been a disappointing season ldquoTo be honest it has been a season of what ifs If this had happened if we had done this if we had done that Itrsquos a bit of that Overall it has been disappointing for all of us As a Mumbai Indians team Irsquom sure the fans and everyone would have felt the same Therersquos no hiding from that We werenrsquot good enough throughout the tournamentrdquo Pollard said during the postmatch press conference on SundayPollard credited Archer for his allaround performance ldquoNot 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 thatrdquo19No of ducks for Rohit Sharma in IPL mdash jointmost with Glenn Maxwell1951Rohit Sharmarsquos batting average against RR mdash the lowest by any player against a single opponent after a minimum of 30 innings38No of sixes for Ryan Rickelton in the ongoing IPL mdash jointmost for MI in a single IPL edition alongside Suryakumar Yadav 38 in 202515No of sixes smashed by RR on Sunday mdash the most against MI in an IPL innings10No of 200plus totals at Wankhede in IPL19 mdash the most at a venue this season