Rajasthan Royals have booked the final playoff spot in IPL 2026 with a win over the Mumbai Indians. This is RR’s third playoff qualification in the last five years.
The MI vs RR game was Match 69 of the 2026 Indian Premier League, the second-last league game of the season. The afternoon match was played at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, with the home side winning the toss and deciding to bowl first.
IPL 2026 Playoff Teams: Rajasthan Royals Book Fourth Playoff Spot
The familiar pair of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi opened the bowling for the Royals. It was not the most electric start for the away team, as only 25 runs came off the first three overs.
While Jaiswal was dominant and scored several boundaries, Sooryavanshi looked out of touch today. In the fourth over, the 15-year-old prodigy took the first wicket of the game, dismissing Yashsasvi for 27 off 17. And soon after, on the first ball of the fifth over, Sooryavanshi suffered a rare failure and got out for four off six at the hands of Deepak Chahar.
Before the end of the powerplay, team captain Riyan Parag would also lose his wicket, dismissed by Allah Ghazanfar for 14 off eight. At the end of the fielding restrictions, the score was 54/3.
Over the next few overs, the duo of Dhruv Jurel and Dasun Shanaka trudged the scoreboard along. At the end of the 10th over, the score was 94/3.
This crucial partnership was broken in the 11th over with the wicket of Shanaka, who was run out after a terrible mix-up for 29 off 15.
Jurel picked the pace up following the wicket. Batting at a strike rate of around 100 for the first 15 balls he faced, the wicketkeeper/batter scored 15 runs in the 12th over to bring the run rate in touching distance of 10 rpo.
But the next few overs would be nigh-on disastrous for Rajasthan. Jurel lost his wicket in the 13th for 38 off 26, dismissed by Corbin Bosch. Only 17 runs came in the three overs between the 13th and 15th.
Then, in the 16th, despite 16 runs coming in the over, Donovan Ferreira was dismissed by Chahar for 18 off 15. But the over was finished with a six by Jofra Archer, a sign of things to come.
In the 17th over, Archer hit another maximum, and 13 runs came off it, while 14 runs came in the 18th over, but also two wickets fell, as Archer and Shubham Dubey were both dismissed by Shardul Thakur. Archer scored a fiery 32 off 15, while Dubey scored just five runs.
With two overs remaining, the score was 175/8 with Ravindra Jadeja and Nandre Burger on the crease. Jadeja hit a four, and Burger hit a six to finish this over, off which came 16 runs.
In the last over of the innings, Jaddu was caught out on a delivery that was then given a no-ball. He punished Shardul by hitting a couple of boundaries and making 14 runs in the over. The Rajasthan Royals finished their 20 overs with a respectable total of 205/8.
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Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton opened the innings for the Mumbai Indians. The first over was bowled excellently by Jofra Archer, who dismissed Sharma for a duck. The former Indian cricket team captain edged a fine delivery and was caught behind.
Then, in the third over, Archer picked his second wicket, comprehensively bowling Naman Dhir for six off five. And with Rickelton’s wicket in the fourth over for 12 off seven at the hands of Nandre Burger, the score after four overs was 35/3.
Before the end of the powerplay, in the sixth over, Tilak Varma would be bowled by Brijesh Sharma. After the end of the fielding restrictions, the Indians were reeling at 49/4.
Next came a partnership that promised to save this game for MI, as Suryakumar Yadav, along with the incoming Will Jacks, got on top of things. 41 runs came in the next four overs as the spin duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Yash Raj Punja were punished on the pitch that had started settling down.
After a decent 11th over by Brijesh Sharma, where only four runs were scored, Punja conceded 22 runs in the 12th over, reviving Mumbai’s chances. However, Will Jacks was also dismissed in that over for 33 off 18.
Team captain Hardik Pandya got off to a flying start to his innings, hitting two sixes in his first three deliveries. He was batting at 25 off seven at the end of the 13th over. At this point, the score was 131/5, with Pandya and Surya looking in fine touch at the crease.
Yadav brought up his half-century in 32 deliveries in the 14th over, his second one this season and his first one in the last 11 games. By the end of the 15th over, the two experienced batters had brought the total to 147 runs, with 59 runs needed in five overs; the match was well and truly on at this point.
The tide was about to shift once again. In the 16th over, Jofra Archer, who had been the MVP of RR’s bowling by this point, came in to bowl his final over. He would dismiss a dangerous-looking Hardik Pandya and would concede just three runs in that over.
With 56 required in 24, the pressure was now on Mumbai. The five-time champions would succumb under this pressure. In the 17th over, Punja got the wicket of Corbin Bosch before Suryakumar Yadav was caught and bowled in the 18th over for 60 off 42. By this point, the game was all but over.
With 40 runs required in the last two overs, Brijesh would dismiss Deepak Chahar in the 19th, and only nine runs would come in the final two overs. The Mumbai Indians ended their innings at 169/9 and lost this game by 30 runs in this MI vs RR game.
IPL 2026 Playoff Teams
With this victory, the Rajasthan Royals finished their league stage with 16 points on the league table. They have confirmed a fourth-place finish, the last of the IPL 2026 playoff teams alongside the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in first, the Gujarat Titans in second, and the Sunrisers Hyderabad in third.
For his incredible all-round performance, which saw him score 32 off 15 and bowl a four-over spell of 3/17 with an economy of 4.25, Jofra Archer was named the Player of the Match.
The Royals will take on third-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator on Wednesday, May 22, at the PCA New Cricket Stadium in New Chandigarh.
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