NEW DELHI: Rajasthan Royals defeated Mumbai Indians by 30 runs to confirm their place in the playoffs in their IPL 2026 match played on Sunday at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. With this result, Rajasthan finished on 16 points and joined Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the knockout stage. MI’s defeat also ended their campaign, as they finished ninth in the table.Batting first, Rajasthan Royals posted 205 for eight. The innings was shaped by late acceleration, with 73 runs coming in the last five overs after a slow start earlier in the innings. Jofra Archer played a key role with the bat as well, scoring 32 off 15 balls, hitting three sixes and a four to lift the total past 200. Other contributors included Yashasvi Jaiswal (27), Dhruv Jurel (38) and Dasun Shanaka (28). Ravindra Jadeja, coming in at No. 9, added three boundaries in the final overs to push the score further. Rajasthan’s start was mixed. Much of the focus was on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Yashasvi Jaiswal at the top, but Sooryavanshi fell early for 4. Jaiswal looked in good touch in his short stay. He hit two big sixes off Chahar and also sent Will Jacks over long-off for another maximum, but his innings ended on 27 when he was caught after a leading edge off a fuller delivery. At 33 for two, Rajasthan were in trouble.Captain Riyan Parag could not convert his start into a big score. He played a few attacking shots but was dismissed in the sixth over after a mistimed shot was caught by Tilak Varma off AM Ghazanfar (1/45). Dhruv Jurel also played a steady knock of 38 off 26 balls, hitting three fours and two sixes, but could not fully accelerate the innings.Dasun Shanaka added momentum with a quick 29 off 15 balls, including three sixes, but his innings ended due to a mix-up with Jurel in the 11th over. Despite losing wickets, Rajasthan managed to reach a competitive total, helped by Archer’s late hitting.In reply, Mumbai Indians were restricted to 175 for nine. Their chase began poorly as the top order collapsed early. Rohit Sharma (0 off 4), Naman Dhir (6 off 5), Ryan Rickelton (12 off 7) and Tilak Varma (3 off 7) all got out cheaply, leaving MI under pressure.Suryakumar Yadav kept MI in the contest with a strong 60-run innings. He built two important partnerships, first adding 63 runs for the fourth wicket with Will Jacks (33), and later 48 runs with captain Hardik Pandya (34 off 16 balls) for the sixth wicket. For a period, MI looked like they could chase the target.However, Rajasthan regained control in the final overs of the match. Jofra Archer finished his spell with excellent figures of 3 for 17 in four overs, including the wicket of Hardik Pandya. Nandre Burger then removed Suryakumar Yadav, ending MI’s resistance.The dismissal of Suryakumar proved decisive as Mumbai’s hopes ended there. Rajasthan’s bowling unit held their nerve to close out a comfortable win, securing their playoff spot and eliminating Punjab Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders in the process.
