Jofra Archer of Rajasthan Royals (AP Image)
Jofra Archer produced a match-winning spell inside the powerplay as Rajasthan Royals ousted Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator of IPL 2026. Archer struck early and often, removing Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan in his first three overs.
These breakthroughs completely shattered the backbone of SRH’s 244-run chase in a high-pressure knockout clash.
Reflecting on his performance, Archer was satisfied with the team bowling effort and not just his figures. “Apart from the numbers, I thought I bowled well. I thought all the guys bowled well. We stuck to our plans, stuck to our lengths, and we got our reward tonight,” he said. His early knock against Abhishek Sharma, coming off the second ball of the innings, set the tone for the Royals in the crucial power-play phase. “Usually the team that takes the most wickets in the Powerplay wins the match. So there is a lot of pressure, but I bear it and do my best for the team,” Archer added. With this win, Rajasthan Royals are now just two wins away from lifting the Indian Premier League title for the second time. They will face Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2, with Royal Challengers Bengaluru already waiting in the final. Archer stressed the importance of staying focused and avoiding a late-season collapse, pointing to previous examples of teams losing momentum after a strong start.
“One game at a time. I think we are at our peak, well, I don’t want to say peak, and we are moving in the right direction at the right time. We don’t want what happened to Kings XI [PBKS] That happens to us. So I think we are on the right track. “Everyone scores in every game, and that’s the important part,” he said. RR’s tally was boosted by a stunning counter-attack from 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who smashed 97 off just 29 balls, including 12 sixes and five fours, which helped them post 244 balls on the board. Archer was full of praise for the teenager’s explosive strike. “It was very exciting. The more runs he (Soryavanshi) scores, the more runs we have to defend. So he can go ahead and get 150 runs, so it’s good for the boys that he can do a lot of runs,” he said. Rajasthan Royals will now take on Gujarat Titans in the second qualifier on Friday at the Maharaja Yadavindra International Stadium in New Chandigarh.