MI vs RR: Jofra Archer storm pushes Rajasthan into playoffs, dumps PBKS and KKR out

Brief scores: Rajasthan Royals (205/8 in 20 ov) beat Mumbai Indians (169 all-out in 19.1 ov) by xx runs. MI vs RR: Highlights | Scorecard

It seemed like a day that was perfect to have one of Jofra Archer's oracle-esque tweets.

And Mumbai was ultimately done for as Archer produced an all-round performance to help Rajasthan Royals make it to the playoffs and dump Punjab Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders from the tournament in the process. Unfortunately, we couldn't find a couple of Jofra tweers for them.

Archer scored 32 off 15 balls and ended with figures of three for 17 to come back to haunt his former team. Mumbai were left ruing their death bowling and powerplay batting in the end as they finished the season with a loss.

Losing four wickets in the first six overs and conceding 73 in the final four proved to be the difference in the end for MI on the day.

ARCHER MAKES MUMBAI PAY

Archer spent three seasons with Mumbai, where he played just five matches for them and was released. But on Sunday, he was out to prove his worth back as Royal at the Wankhede.

Jofra Archer came in to bowl like a house on fire with the ball, knowing that his side needed him the most. The response from the England pacer was immediate, dismissing Rohit Sharma for a duck. This was the 19th time Rohit was dismissed without scoring any runs in his IPL career, the joint-highest by any player in the tournament.

The familiar issue of MI struggling in the powerplay this season came back to haunt them once again, as Archer cleaned up Naman Dhir with a sensational delivery to have the home side reeling at 18 for two in the third over.

Once Ryan Rickleton fell to Nandre Burger and Tilak Varma bowled by Brijesh Sharma, the picture looked bleak for Mumbai, much like their season. They were 38 for four in 5.1 overs and by that time Archer raced through his three overs.

There was a lot of talk about Suryakumar Yadav and if he was hiding a wrist injury. While he answered with his words earlier on, he let the bat do the talking in the middle.

It was a slow start, which included him getting hit on the face via a low full toss ricocheting off his bat on to the grill. But that seemed to egg him on and Surya started to take down the RR spinners with ease.

He was particularly severe on Jadeja, hitting him for a couple of boundaries, and has support from Will Jacks, who was also teeing up the bowlers with big hits.

The duo put on 63 runs off 38 balls, but Jacks fell to Yash Raj Punia. This got Hardik Pandya to the middle, with the run-rate already way over 11 at that point.

The MI captain looked to be in a different mood as compared to some of his innings earlier on in the season, which was slammed for being slow and not up to the demands of the team.

He started with two sixes of Yash Raj and then a couple of boundaries off Shanaka, to make the contest more interesting for the young kids inside the stadium.

It seemed like Hardik was out there just looking to enjoy in the middle as he did a little skip, pulled off a kung fu punch to bring a smile to Rohit Sharma's face.

Surya got to a fifty and was a bit silent, but exploded to life with a boundary. 59 was needed in the final five overs as the game seemed to be on a knife-edge.

Parag brought back Archer at this point, looking for a wicket to tilt the game in their favour. And that's what he did, getting the wicket of Hardik Pandya to bring RR back into the contest.

Suryakumar was fighting a lone battle in the end as Yash Raj got Corbin Bosch. The spinner ensured that the over went for just five runs.

Surya's wicket was the final nail in the coffin for Mumbai as RR got closer to the win. The final three overs saw not a lot of drama and it was all wrapped up easily and RR head to New Chandigarh to take on SRH in the eliminator.

DID RR EXPERIMENT TOO MUCH?

MI didn't have a lot depending on the game, and it was all about putting on a show for the kids who turned up as part of their ESA initiative. Jasprit Bumrah was rested and we were robbed off another duel with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. For RR, it was all about getting the win in and not experimenting a lot.

They started with their well-set opening pair of Sooryavanshi and Yashasvi Jaiswal, but the spin choke had the Royals in a bit of a muddle. Jaiswal scored 27 off 17 balls but Sooryavanshi was dismissed for four off six balls.

Jaiswal's stay was ended by Will Jacks and then Riyan Parag was left frustrated by Allah Ghazanfar and was dismissed for 14 runs. The score at that time was 54 for three by the end of the powerplay overs. But then came the first of the surprising moves from the Royals.

They had Dasun Shanaka come in ahead of Donovan Ferreira and Ravindra Jadeja in the dugout. Shanaka and Jurel steadied the ship with a 45-run stand off just 27 balls before MI pegged them back again.

Once Jurel fell, everyone felt it was time for Jadeja to come on. But, out came Archer, much to the surprise of everyone online and in the stadium.

But that proved to be the masterstroke in the end as Archer's blitz proved to be the difference for RR in the end. He was able to give the momentum that RR needed.

"It is always guess work. Great when it works. Ugly when it does not. We wanted Archer to take some risks and then, Ferreira and Dubey take care of the final few overs when the bowlers were tired in the sun. Ferreira got out but Jofra kicked on and Jadeja coming in did well with a bung elbow. We should have gotten 220, but we did well to get to 206 too," said RR coach Kumar Sangakkara after the match.

Jadeja brought in some banter at the end with Shardul Thakur, but RR will now need to refocus on the rest.

They have earned their way into the play-offs, but the space for such experiments may have come to an end. They will need to field the best team with a correct entry point for Jadeja.

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