Rajasthan Royals jumbled their lower middle-order in their must-win game against Mumbai Indians, thereby rectifying their error against the Delhi Capitals.
Archer, then Dubey, then Jadeja
Against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium – a must-win game – RR were 119-5 in the 13th over. It had not been a great start, and 200 seemed far away. These are circumstances when some teams use their Impact Player option, replacing an already dismissed batter with another, to boost their batting line-up.
RR did not do that – not immediately, at least. Neither did they use up their lone remaining specialist batter, Shubham Dubey. They promoted Jofra Archer instead. In 205 T20 games until this point, Archer had batted 25 times in the top seven – but never since 2020.
It worked. Dubey arrived, but when the next wicket fell in the 16th over. When he fell in the 18th, RR finally used the Impact Player to bring in Ravindra Jadeja – because there were still two overs left and they had run out of batters. This was only the second time Jadeja batted as low as No.9: the other instance was back in 2010.
Dubey failed, but Archer biffed his way to a 15-ball 32, while Jadeja remained unbeaten on an 11-ball 19 to push RR to 205-8. To understand why both men batted at these unusual positions, one needs to go back to RR’s defeat in Delhi.
Rajasthan’s Delhi folly
RR were 161-2 in the 15th over that night when, with three wickets in four balls, Mitchell Starc tore the heart out of their middle order. When Dubey followed in the 17th over, RR replaced him with Dasun Shanaka - who was brought in as the Impact Player. Archer came to bat at No.9, when only seven balls remained.
While not an all-rounder, Archer has hit a six every 10 balls in the IPL, and a boundary hit (four or six) every 5.7 balls – excellent numbers for anyone whose primary job is not as a power-hitter. For perspective, the corresponding numbers for Hardik Pandya are 11 and 5.3. Archer is an excellent option as long as the team does not need him to bat for long, but against DC, RR chose to not use up that skill before going for the Impact Player.
How did this change the game? RR were left with Shanaka as their fifth bowler (and not Ravi Bishnoi). With 35 to defend in three overs that night and one Shanaka over left, Riyan Parag used the off-breaks of Donovan Ferreira against two left-handers: it backfired, and the decision was criticised heavily. At the post-match presentation, Riyan assured that it was not the gamble it looked like “on TV”. There was merit in Riyan’s argument: until the DC game, Shanaka had not bowled a single over in his five IPL matches.
One may argue that Bishnoi has bowled better than Jadeja in IPL 2026, and the Impact Player call hurt the RR bowling attack against MI as well. However, the decisions were better on three counts. One, unlike in DC, RR used up Archer’s hitting abilities before going for the change. Two, Jadeja has been a better (and more regular) bowler in the IPL. And three, RR have six bowlers in the MI match.
