Royals disappointed, but Archer leaves his mark
NEW DELHI: Rajasthan Royals failed in their bid to make the playoff of this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) but their pace spearhead Jofra Archer will leave with his held head high after his superlative performance in the tournament.
Sunday’s 60-run thumping by Kolkata Knight Riders ended the 2008 winners’ hope of a second IPL title but England quick Archer enjoyed a stellar season and still leads the race for the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
Archer is among the six bowlers who have claimed 20 or more wickets in this IPL and his economy rate of 6.55 is the best among them.
Rajasthan Captain Steve Smith felt the team’s inconsistent top order had failed to complement the effort of Archer and all-rounder Rahul Tewatia.
“Jofra has been exceptional pretty much every game. Tewatia obviously has pulled a few out of the hat throughout the tournament ... Not enough support for them,” the Australian said.
Barbados-born Archer also appeared to enjoy his lower order cameos and smashed 10 sixes in the tournament.
“Jofra was outstanding with his economy rates,” Rajasthan coach Andrew McDonald said.
“He’s been incredible on the field and stamped his authority on the game early in the tournament when he got his chance with the bat.
“His all-round game keeps getting better. We had too few contributions around him.”
Archer said last week he was counting down the days to be free from the world of bio-secure bubbles that he has been trapped in for the past few months in
order to play cricket amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We come back stronger,” the 25-year-old tweeted after his team crashed out of the playoff race.
KL Rahul on Monday said that KXIP will come back stronger in the next edition of the tournament. “Won together, lost together, fought together and we will be back stronger together,” Rahul tweeted.
In the ongoing edition of the IPL, KL Rahul currently is the leading run-scorer as he has 670 runs from 14 matches at an average of 55.83. KXIP opening batsman
Mayank Agarwal also thanked the supporters of the franchise and promised that the side will be back stronger next year. “Not an ideal way we would have preferred to finish the season but it’s been a wonderful campaign for all of us. On a personal front, it felt great to get back out there doing what I love the most. Thank you for always believing in us,” Agarwal tweeted. Mayank Agarwal also scored 424 runs in this year’s tournament from 11 matches at an average of 38.54. He had also scored a century against Rajasthan Royals at the Sharjah
Cricket Stadium.
After stumbling to a ninewicket loss against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Kings XI Punjab skipper KL Rahul on Sunday had said that it does hurt to not qualify for the playoffs, but also added that there is a lot to be proud of for the side.
Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis played knocks of 62 and 48 respectively as CSK defeated KXIP by nine wickets here at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. “Every youngster has been putting in a lot of work, they have been working with the coaches, youngsters have played games against high-quality opposition, they have handled the pressure really well, we will keep an eye on the boys and we will try to work for them, there is a lot for them to grow,” said Rahul during the post-match press conference.
“It does hurt, we did really well to give us a chance to qualify for the playoffs, there is a lot for us to be proud of this season, it would have been great if we had got one more victory to qualify for the playoffs, this will hurt for a little while, we need to take the learnings and come back stronger next season,” he added.