The leader of the Rajasthan Royals (RR) pace attack, Jofra Archer, allayed fears about a possibly serious injury after his match-winning performance against the Mumbai Indians.
In the 18th over of the second innings, Archer ran back and across to try to take a catch but dropped it. He was fully stretched in his attempt and fell over as the ball went away from him. Immediately after going down, he winced in pain, clutching his hamstring.
Thankfully for RR, however, he got up and finished the remainder of the match.
“I’m very good right now, touchwood,” he said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
RR can not afford Archer getting injured in IPL 2026 ahead of the playoffs.
In the first innings, the Englishman’s late cameo of 32 off just 15 balls
— featuring three sixes and a four — powered RR to a competitive 205 after they had struggled through the middle overs. His aggressive hitting, alongside Ravindra Jadeja’s finishing effort, helped Rajasthan add 73 runs in the final five overs, a surge that ultimately proved decisive.
Archer then made an immediate impact with the ball by ripping through the Mumbai Indians’ top order. He dismissed Rohit Sharma with a superb outswinger that induced an edge behind, before removing Naman Dhir in the same spell to leave MI reeling early. He later returned to end Hardik Pandya’s dangerous counterattack at a crucial stage of the chase, effectively shutting the door on Mumbai’s hopes.
Archer finished with outstanding figures of 3 for 17 from four overs.
Riyan Parag gives injury updates
RR skipper Riyan Parag, after the match, said that he was ‘not fit’ and was not supposed to play the matches that he has. But on Archer and Ravindra Jadeja, who has been in-and-out of the team, he was more positive.
“Jofra’s fine, he’s strong as a rock. Jaddu bhai has some niggles here and there. But again, he’s got the sword, he’s a warrior, he’ll be back,” Parag said.
