Follow UsDefending 206 against Punjab Kings (PBKS) on April 5 (Saturday), Rajasthan Royals (RR) needed the best of Jofra Archer, who started in the most pristine of fashions with a wicket off the very first ball. Not just that, the Barbados-born bowler also picked up the prized scalp of Shreyas Iyer after getting smashed for two boundaries in the over.
While Archer might have conceded the costliest spell in IPL history during RR’s opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), but made a solid comeback over the next few games. After figures of 1/13 against CSK, Archer finished with figures of 3/25 against PBKS, earning the praise of Sanju Samson.
“We all love it when he bowls fast. Doing it for me in the last 4 years, he is one of the best guys in India right now, bowling fast,” Samson said in the post-match presentation.
“That's a very deadly combo, one guy bowling at 150 and one guy at 115. We should cut a cake on that [Sandeep bowling 130]. I can trust them a bit more with the pressure overs."
At one point in the first innings, during the powerplay, it never looked like the Royals would get past the 200-run mark, but that’s where the lower-order combined with Riyan Parag (25-ball 43) to get them to 205, a score that seemed a lot on this particular surface.
“The way we started in the powerplay, we thought we were running a bit short, but the quality of the batters we have got 205 was a very good score on the board. Very young batting lineup, very young in age but they have played a lot of games for the country. They are managing and playing the game very well,” Samson said.
With the win, Rajasthan is in seventh place in the points table, with two wins and two losses.