Kamal Ghorui
Jofra Archer struck with the first ball of the second innings to equal a record held by Mohammed Shami during Rajasthan Royals’ IPL 2026 match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Eden Gardens on Sunday.Opening the bowling for Rajasthan Royals, Archer bowled KKR opener Tim Seifert for a golden duck with the first delivery of KKR’s innings. With this, Archer now has five wickets on the first ball of an IPL innings, matching Shami’s record.He had also taken wickets on the opening ball in RR’s previous two matches — against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on April 10 and Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 13 — dismissing Phil Salt and Abhishek Sharma respectively.Wickets off the first ball of an IPL innings (most):
- 5 – Mohammed Shami
- 5 – Jofra Archer
Earlier, after winning the toss, Rajasthan Royals chose to bat. Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine combined to take five wickets and restricted RR to 155 for nine.It could have been worse for RR had KKR not conceded ground in the power play.Rajasthan made a strong start, reaching 63 without loss as Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi scored at over 10 runs per over against the pace attack.The match changed after spin was introduced. Sooryavanshi hit Narine for a six off his second ball, but Narine followed it with five dot deliveries. Chakravarthy then dismissed Sooryavanshi with his fourth ball, completing his 200th T20 wicket. The batter was caught by Ramandeep Singh at deep midwicket.Rajasthan Royals slipped from a strong position to 118 for four in 15 overs, with the run rate dropping below eight.
