Mumbai: Rajasthan Royals qualified for the IPL 2026 playoffs after a 30-run win over the Mumbai Indians in their last league match at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. Jofra Archer scored a quick-fire 32 in 15 balls and then breathed fire with the ball by taking 3 for 17 to ensure his franchise's entry in the next stage.
Royals finished fourth with 16 points, while the Mumbai Indians finished a dismal ninth with eight points.
Rajasthan Royals' middle order and lower order came to the fore to lift the visitors to 205 for 8 after the top order failed to give them a brisk start. Archer dismissed Rohit Sharma and Naman Dhir at the top and dangerous-looking Hardik Pandya later in the innings to swing the match in the visitors' favour.
Suryakumar Yadav reserved his best for the last, but his best effort of the season, 60 in 43 balls, wasn't enough in the end. Skipper Hardik also smashed 34 in 15 balls. Surya and Hardik shared 48 runs for the sixth wicket in quick time after Will Jacks made 33 in 18 balls.
Already eliminated, the Mumbai Indians rested their premier bowler, Jasprit Bumrah, for the last league match. Bumrah had just four wickets in 13 games and was carrying a niggle initially in the tournament.
Seamer Deepak Chahar and spinner Jacks started well, keeping Vaibhav Sooryavanshi quiet. Jacks denied Sooryavanshi what could have been his 54th six of this edition of the IPL with an acrobatic save on the extra cover boundary. He eventually ended the tournament with 53 sixes, six shy of Chris Gayle’s record 59 sixes in an IPL season.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, who survived a confident lbw appeal from Jacks early on, got going with three sixes and a boundary before mistiming one of Jacks straight to Corbin Bosch at point. Jaiswal made 27 runs in the opening stand of 33 with Sooryavanshi in 22 balls.
Chahar struck on his first ball of the third over to dismiss Sooryavanshi for just four in six balls as Naman Dhir took a forward-running catch. Visitors were 39/2 in five overs before Allah Ghazanfar came in as a first change and conceded 15 runs.
However, Mumbai showed their brilliance in the field again, as Tilak Varma pulled off a screamer at long on to make skipper Ryan Parag’s stay short at the crease. Allah Ghazanfar gave 15 runs in the sixth over but dismissed Parag on the last ball as the visitors ended the powerplays at 54 for 3.
Dasun Shanaka played a good hand to take the Royals to 94/3 at the halfway mark. The Sri Lankan all-rounder smashed 29 off 15 balls with three sixes before his promising stay was cut short by a misunderstanding with Jurel, resulting in a run-out.
Jurel (38 in 26 balls) was struggling, reaching 15 in 14 balls, but just when he started to find the boundaries, he was undone by a good yorker from Corbin Bosch.
Donovan Ferreira (18) played a brief cameo, and Archer used the long handle to good effect before Ravindra Jadeja (19) and Nandre Burger (10) finished with a flourish. Shardul Thakur and Chahar picked two wickets apiece but gave over 40 runs each.
Archer dented MI's chase by taking two wickets in two overs and giving nothing away. Ryan Rickelton took on Burger, and Suryakumar showed intent from the first ball. Both had a terrible mix-up between the wickets, but Rickelton survived courtesy of a sloppy throw. But he hit Burger’s next ball straight to Sooryavanshi at square leg. Tilak Varma also went early as the hosts lost four wickets in the powerplays with 49 on the board.
Suryakumar and Jacks resurrected the sinking ship with a 63-run stand for the fifth wicket in 39 balls. Jacks fell while attempting a second straight six of Yash Raj Punja. Suryakumar and Hardik gave hosts brief hope, but once Archer removed Hardik, it was going only one way. Hosts could manage only 175 for 9 in the end.
