Jofra Archer carries RR into playoffs

Every RR game is about what a 15-year-old kid will or will not do. But his 24-year-old opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal took charge in what he calls home ground in domestic cricket. He tonked Deepak Chahar for two sixes and one off Will Jacks but MI ran through the top-order early. Jaiswal fell trying to maximise against Jacks, mistiming a big shot against a ball that turned a touch away from him. Sooryavanshi didn't fly off the bat, and in the fifth over, found Naman Dhir at deep point, giving Chahar a wicket. AM Ghazanfar then lured Riyan Parag into a false shot with a tossed up delivery, and had him caught at long on. RR slumped to 54/3 in six overs.

RR had to rely on the middle-order to rescue them. Dasun Shanaka and Dhruv Jurel got down to work and looked like they could truly pin the pressure back on the home side through the middle. Shanaka got going with a massive six over long-on against Ghazanfar in the eighth over and repeated it vs Raghu Sharma in the next. He pulled one over fine leg against Shardul Thakur as RR got to the halfway stage at 94/3. But almost against the run of play, a mix up between the two batters resulted in Shanaka's run out for a 15-ball 29. Jurel meanwhile, was able to middle every attempted hit and nudged RR ahead. He took 15 off Ghazanfar in the 12th over - a couple of exquisitely timed fours and a big six over square leg. But Corbin Bosch stopped him in his tracks in the following over with an exceptional inswinging yorker that Jurel couldn't keep out. He walked off for a 26-ball 38.

Archer batted alongside Donovan Ferreira, who was one of the last possible hopes for the visitors to get a move on heading into the death. But MI dug their heels into this muddled thinking, making the slower bouncer work well for them this evening. Chahar used it in abundance, and struck with one such ball when Ferreira found the deep mid-wicket fielder with a big heave in the 16th over.

From here however, Archer took over with the bat. In the over that Chahar took out Ferreira, Archer smashed a six over long-off. His batting wares came through further in the next couple of overs too as he hit two more sixes - off Bosch over square leg and off Shardul over deep mid-wicket. He hit another four before being dismissed by Shardul, for a 15-ball 32 that went a long way in push RR past the 200-run mark.

Archer wasn't done yet. He walked out and got Rohit Sharma to nick one behind for a duck in the opening over, and then cleaned up Naman Dhir too. Ryan Rickelton, who got going with a four and six in Nandre Burger's first over, fell to the South African in his second. In the last over of the Powerplay, Brijesh Sharma floored Tilak Varma's off-stump to keep RR's hopes up.

The India captain has been in the middle of an underwhelming season, but arrived with the confidence of sending the ball to his favourite fine leg region. He attacked Ravindra Jadeja and Yash Raj Punja to collect sixes while Will Jacks also chipped in to keep the chase going. Suryakumar hit a Yash Raj floater into the stands and had a stroke of luck when a delivery from Jadeja flew off the top-edge for a four to third man.

In the second half of the chase, Jacks got under a loopy delivery from Yash Raj and smashed it for a straight six to keep RR on their toes as Kumar Sangakkara looking rather pensive in a tensed dugout. Jacks attempted a slog sweep on the very next ball and Dhruv Jurel pouched a good high catch to ease some of the worry lines for the head coach. Hardik Pandya however, strutted out and turned that emotion around again...

Post the timeout, Parag went for a desperate roll of a die by bringing back Archer for his final over in the 16th. Archer, who could do no wrong today, hurried Hardik with a bouncer and had him caught at long on to add another twist to this fixture. He gave away just three runs in the over to leave MI to chase 56 off the last 24 deliveries. Yash Raj then followed that up brilliantly. He was trusted to bowl the 17th over, where he first got Bosch to hit one straight to the square leg fielder and ended up giving only six runs.

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