MI vs RR

The playoffs are locked and loaded but before we get there there is one final league game which has been made irrelevant as a result of what happened here. Hop tabs to catch KKR vs DC, from here this is Sourabh Agrawal signing off on behalf of Pradeep and the rest of the team. Cheers!

Jofra Archer is the deserving Player of the Match for his brilliant all-round performance, , here are his words: Don't think this is my best year, I have bowled better than this. Every time I take the ball, I try to hit the good areas. If you get hit for a boundary off a good ball, it is okay.

(not bowling the slower ball) It is the coach's instructions. The first couple of games I was trying the pace off but the coach told me no more pace off from you no matter what, just following the instructions. There is more margin for error with pace on, a few edges here and there

(on his batting) I wasn't expecting to bat that early because of the impact sub but the coach told me to put my pads on, I was surprised. (on the body) I am fine, touchwood

Riyan Parag (RR captain): Always feels good when things go to plan. I know we have won the game, qualified but there are a lot of things that we need to do better. (sending Jadeja at 9 and Archer at 7) We did not want two guys in the middle going at a-run-a-ball, that is why we sent Archer up and always trusted Jadeja to get us 20 off 10 at the end which he did. I have taken a lot of brave calls this year, that is how I like to lead for Assam as well, very different level but those are calcuated calls. Always go with my instincts. All credits to them (Brijesh & Punja), I do not usually praise them so that they do not get all bloated but they deserve it tonight. Brijesh, after getting a bit of tap in a couple of games and even Punja his journey from a net bowler to now has been exceptional

I am definitely not fit, I was not supposed to play tonight and not play another game as well but it was all mental toughness. Jofra is hard as a rock, Jaddu bhai has got a couple of niggles but he has got the sword and he should be fine

We should have qualified much earlier, we left a lot of things out there and we are picking up the slack 

Kumara Sangakkara [Rajasthan Royals Head Coach and Direct of Cricket]: [On Rajasthan Royals holding their nerve under pressure]“During the final timeout, the message was simple — stick to the plans and hold your nerve. Games like these are decided by which side handles pressure better in the closing stages. I thought all our bowlers responded brilliantly. Jofra Archer, Ritesh, Nandre, the spinners, and even Dasun with a couple of overs, everyone played their part. We were also very sharp in the field, which made a huge difference.”[On promoting Jofra Archer up the batting order]“It’s always a bit of a gamble, isn’t it? It looks brilliant when it works and questionable when it doesn’t. But we know what Jofra is capable of with the bat. The idea was to send him in with freedom to attack and shift momentum. Donovan Ferreira and Dubey then managed the middle phase really well in difficult conditions. From a position where we were looking at around 180, getting to 206 was an outstanding effort.”[On Jofra Archer’s all-round impact]“Jofra has been fully committed throughout the season. He’s invested in the team, helping players around him, and leading from the front with the ball. But today, his contribution with the bat before producing that spell with the ball was exceptional. He played a massive role in helping us secure qualification.”[On the emergence of young leg-spinner Yashraj Pundit]“Yash has been with us in the nets for the last three seasons, and we finally brought him into the squad this year. He’s tall, gets great revolutions on the ball, turns both his leg-break and googly well, and most importantly, stays calm under pressure. On a good batting surface, the way he bowled to experienced batters was outstanding. He’s only going to improve from here.”[On backing young talent in the squad]“We don’t look at age when selecting players — we look at ability. We want players who can contribute right now, and both the younger and senior players have stepped up throughout the tournament to help take us into the playoffs.”

Hardik Pandya [Mumbai Indians captain]: [On Mumbai Indians falling short in the chase]“I think we probably gave away 10-15 runs more overall. The bowlers actually did a very good job in difficult conditions, especially with how hot it was out there. The target was definitely chaseable, but losing too many wickets in the powerplay meant we were always trying to catch up after that.”[On the behaviour of the pitch during the chase]“To be honest, when I went out to bat, the pitch felt really good. I don’t think it changed much across the two innings. The ball was coming onto the bat nicely, but you still had to hold your shape and play proper cricket shots to get value out of the surface.”[On the costly final overs with the ball]“The last five overs probably hurt us badly. Death overs are always challenging, but if you can stop even one or two boundaries in that phase, it can make a huge difference. Conceding 73 runs in the last five overs definitely put us behind in the game.”[On his physical condition during the game]“Everything is fine physically. I bat, bowl, and captain, so naturally the body goes through a lot during a game. Maybe it’s fair now to enjoy a match where I just bat a little more and relax.”

7:47 PM local time and IST: MATCH SUMMARY

Rajasthan Royals (205/8 in 20 overs) beat Mumbai Indina (175/9 in 20 overs) by 30 runs

Jofra Archer 32(15) & 3/17(4)
Suryakumar Yadav 60(42) | Shardul Thakur 2/41(4)

There we have it, Rajasthan Royals have claimed the final spot in the IPL 2026 playoffs, it will be Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals in the Eliminator on May 27 and with that PBKS & KKR have been knocked out!

You can see the relief and happiness on the faces of the RR players, the 15-year old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has made it to the IPL playoffs for the first time ever and he punches the air in delight and gets a warm embrace from his opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal. The skipper Riyan Parag has both his hands up in the air, skywards as he too celebrates his first full season by leading his side into the top-4 and he would be the first one to tell you that the job is only half done

This is exactly what Riyan Parag wanted, he said at the toss that he would rather have his fate in his own hands and even though it took more than four hours and a quarter but his team has got the win and the all-important 2 points

One man that did it pretty much all tonight for RR, it was Jofra Archer's promotion in the batting lineup that catapulted RR to a 200-plus score with his 15-ball cameo and then he did what he has been doing best with the ball all season long. A wicket in the first over dismissing Rohit for a duck, another one in his next as Archer got 2/14 in his 3 overs in the powerplay gettig rid of MI's cream at the top in support of Burger who got the big wicket of his countryman Rickelton just breaking the back of the run chase in the powerlay itself

Surya Kumar Yadav & Will Jacks did give it a real scare, they put on 63 for the 4th wicket and then Hardik Pandya walked out like a man on a mission smashing 25 off his first 7 balls but then it was than man again, Archer came back in the 16th over and removed Hardik Pandya to swing the game back in RR's favor. The young leg spinner Punja held his nerve at the death too, picked up a crucial couple of wickets and so did Brijesh in the end as RR closed it off pretty convincingly giving themselves a big shot in the arm

19.6 Dasun Shanaka to Shardul Thakur, THAT'S IT! RR ARE THROUGH TO THE ELIMINATOR! They will face SRH, fourth spot is sealed with this game. With that, PBKS and KKR are knocked out of this season's IPL. It's a shocker coming from Wankhede, after winning seven games on the trot, PBKS lost their way and now knocked out of the IPL!

Full outside the off-stump, Shardul looks to scoop and misses, through to the keeper.

19.1 Dasun Shanaka to Shardul Thakur, FOUR! Dishes out a full toss outside the off-stump, Shardul smacked it over extra-cover for a boundary to start the over.

37 needed from the final over, RR have all but booked their spot in the Eliminator. The RR owners and supporters, the few of them, are dancing in the stands