MUMBAI: Rajasthan Royals rode on Jofra Archer’s all-round brilliance to book the fourth and final play-off berth with a 30-run victory over Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League here on Sunday.
Archer returned with splendid figures of 4-0-17-3 after his 15-ball 32 helped Royals reach a fighting 205 for 8 after 20 overs.
It was 73 runs in the last five overs bowled by Mumbai Indians which proved to be decisive as Mumbai Indians could manage only 175 for 9 in 20 overs.
The IPL 2026 playoffs begin with Qualifier 1 between RCB and GT – the teams that finished No. 1 and 2 in the points table – in Dharamsala on May 26; the winner of that match will progress directly to the final on May 31 in Ahmedabad.
The team that loses Qualifier 1 will have a more hectic schedule. They travel from Dharamsala to New Chandigarh to play Qualifier 2 against the winner of the Eliminator.
SRH and RR, the teams that finished third and fourth in the league stage, contest the Eliminator on May 27 in New Chandigarh. The team that loses the Eliminator exits the competition, while the winner progresses to play Qualifier 2 on May 29 in New Chandigarh against the team that lost Qualifier 1.
With only a day’s gap between Qualifier 2 and the final, the winner of Qualifier 2 will travel to Ahmedabad on May 30 to play the final against the winner of Qualifier 1 on May 31.
