Jofra Archer shines as Rajasthan Royals smash Punjab Kings

Jofra Archer hit his straps in the 2025 IPL on Saturday, bowling Rajasthan Royals to a 50-run win over Punjab Kings in Mullanpur.

PBKS entered the contest slight favourites across IPL betting sites, having won their first two matches of the season.

Rajasthan were not deterred, however, starting well after being put into bat first as Yashasvi Jaiswal (67 from 45) and Sanju Samson (38 from 26) put on 89 runs for the first wicket.

Riyan Parag (43* from 25) picked up where captain Samson left off in the 11th over, hitting through the middle overs alongside Nitish Rana (12 from 7) and Shimron Hetmyer (20 from 12) before combining with Dhruv Jurel (13* from 5) at the death to take RR to a competitive 4/205 from their 20 overs.

In response, PBKS were skittled by the magic of Jofra Archer in the opening over, with the English pacer snaffling two wickets in his first six balls to leave the visitors reeling at 2/11.

Archer only gave away another 14 runs over his next three overs, adding another wicket to finish on 3/25 as Punjab limped to 155/9.

Nehal Wadhera (62 from 41) and Glenn Maxwell (30 from 21) did put up some resistance midway through PBKS’s innings, but with little help from the rest of the lineup they were consigned to a 50-run defeat.

“Happy to contribute to the team,” Archer said afterwards.

“When there are days like this, you got to make sure you cash in.

“Enjoy the good ones, take the bad ones in your stride.

“You got to understand that you will be lucky in some circumstances; in others, the batters might because everyone is working just as hard to be better.

“Every day is not going to be a great day, but on the good days, you have to enjoy because the bad day could be around the corner.”

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With the win, Rajasthan join second-placed Royal Challengers Bengaluru with four points, though their poor net run rate has them at seventh overall on the IPL ladder.

Cricket bookmakers still price them as long-shots to win the 2025 IPL, paying $13 – the second-to-last line of betting.

Punjab, meanwhile, are second-favourite to win the tournament despite the loss, paying $6.50 at BetOnline.

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