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The 69th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 was played between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Rajasthan Royals (RR). In this match held at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, RR defeated MI by 30 runs and secured a place in the playoffs. It was a ‘do or die’ match for RR. When invited to bat first, he scored 205 runs at the loss of 8 wickets and then took a royal entry in the playoffs by restricting MI to 175.

Jofra Archer was the star in RR’s victory. When promoted to number seven, he scored 32 runs in 15 balls. Archer hit 1 four and 3 sixes. After this, he did wonders in bowling by taking the wickets of Rohit Sharma (0) and Naman Dheer (6) in the powerplay and then confirmed the victory of RR by taking the wicket of Hardik Pandya (34) in the 16th over. Archer bowled lethally and took 3 wickets for 17 runs in 4 overs. For this strong all-round performance, he was awarded the Player of the Match award.

PBKS and KKR out

RR made it to the playoffs with 16 points. With this the journey of Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) has ended. If RR had lost against MI then PBKS and KKR would have had a chance. PBKS had 15 points. KKR can also reach only 15 points. In such a situation, RR’s defeat eliminated both of them.

This was the condition of the match

MI captain Hardik Pandya decided to bowl first in the afternoon match. RR lost wickets at frequent intervals but somehow managed to cross the 200-mark. For him, Yashasvi Jaiswal (27), Dhruv Jurel (38), Dasun Shanaka (29), Archer (32) and Ravindra Jadeja (19 not out) played short but fast innings. For MI, Deepak Chahar took 2 wickets for 43 runs in 4 overs.

After making a big total, RR lost 4 wickets of MI in the powerplay itself. After this, Suryakumar Yadav (60), Will Jacques (33) and Hardik (34) increased his problems but in the last overs, Archer, Yash Raj Punja, Brijesh Sharma and Nandre Berger bowled brilliantly and got him the ticket for the playoffs.