Last night at Ekana was a welcome change. It wasn't the overdosed, almost numbing frenzy of six-hitting. The night's memorable hits were laid out on the deck by white leather, lending the quicks a rare day of dominance.
From both sides, pacers took 13 of the 16 wickets to fall. Justin Langer was so impressed that he likened it to the WACA's pace and bounce.
And if one delivery could best exemplify that, it would be the rip-snorter from Jofra Archer to Nicholas Pooran in the fifth over of the chase. Pooran could have smelt the cherry whiz past him, leaping and swaying his head away to Archer's missile. The commentary box groaned as Dhruv Jurel collected it with a full-stretched leap. Archer jogged to Pooran, slipped out a few words, and turned back.
The next ball was even quicker, his fastest of the night: 151.6 kph. The one after that completed a maiden, with Archer walking up to Pooran again with a smile. Perhaps, letting Pooran know it was the first-ever maiden he had faced in his IPL career.
It's fascinating how Archer can still bedazzle us with sheer pace. Here's a player who, three years ago, looked as good as done in the IPL. An elbow injury kept him out of the 2021 and 2022 seasons. For the second one, Mumbai Indians shelled out INR 8 crore, knowing he was unlikely for the first season but hoping to squeeze out his best in the next two. Five games into the 2023 edition, he walked off clutching his elbow again. MI were forced to let him go ahead of the following season.
It created a perception around Archer that questioned the rationale behind his big-money deals. If he was breaking down so often, was he really worth it?
Among others, Sunil Gavaskar hit out at Archer for turning up in 2023 not fully fit, saying: "There's simply no point paying even one rupee for a player, however big a name he may be if he is not going to be available for the entire tournament."
At that time, Rob Key, then managing director of ECB, said: "You don't want to risk rushing something to see that and kibosh the rest of his career". With Archer, the lingering danger was, above everything, the fear of him breaking down.
Yet, for someone who has had more than his share of infirmary visits, Archer is still very much the bowler he's always promised to be. No compromise, no half-baked presentations.
Just the same, raw thrill of fast bowling.
Archer played most of last season, but didn't look his best, conceding at nearly 9.5 an over. So far this year, the number has been under eight. The strike-rate is down from 39 to 18. He's picked up as many wickets in five fewer games.
More than anything, it has been Archer's Powerplay prowess powering through. He currently has the most wickets in the first six overs among all IPL 2026 bowlers (7). The newest victim on that list is Aiden Markram, effectively out as an opener in the third over. Markram was undone by the pace and extra zip that climbed up on him, hopelessly watching the top-edge get gobbled up by Dhruv Jurel.
It was almost identical to Phil Salt's dismissal in Guwahati. Salt got no time to season his batting, sent back first ball by Archer's vicious climber-from-length. Ryan Rickelton had succumbed in similar fashion as well, top-edging a hard length delivery.
Against LSG, Archer did not relent on the pace-on mentality one bit. No delivery went below 135kph, fifteen were about 145, and two breached the 150 barrier. His seam presentation was spot on, seaming them away with bounce to Pooran through that maiden over.
It was all of Archer's best bits rolled into one spell. And it started with a yorker that almost took Mitch Marsh's toes out. Archer chuckled; he would continue to beam a smile at batters like he often does, probably lulling them into a comfort zone before hunting them.
Marsh had survived the first-ball curse: no one else has picked up the wicket off the first ball of the innings more times than Archer (five). And he had already taken four wickets in the first over of this IPL.
Two overs later, he dismissed Markram with a controlled version of the bouncer that had flown over his head just two balls before. He slipped in a length ball between those two. But the pace didn't drop. Even to the new batter Pooran, he had a fine leg and third man to start with, suggesting a short-ball promise. He was welcomed by a 150.7 bumper.
At a time when a flurry of young Indian quicks are hogging headlines, Archer has quietly re-established his value as a quality overseas quick well worth his paycheck. And he's grown into more: he didn't just pick his pink towel and walk away to a corner of the ground. Archer was present, helping direct fields, speaking to players. When he picked his second scalp, he quietly moved to the top of Rajasthan Royals' all-time IPL wicket-takers list.
It's the same franchise for which Archer first turned out in 2018, and began with two three-fors in a row. He was still a year away from playing for England, and had impressed with his 145+ kph offerings in the Big Bash. Now, eight years and countless rehabs later, he is still that gunslinger.
"I guess you just have to keep taking wickets," Archer said when asked pre-season how he's looking to counter today's run-scoring rates. "If you try to bowl your spell and you're trying to save runs, it's not going to work. Every team has eight batters, an extra one with the Impact Player rule. You gotta get wickets, keep thinking wickets."
For those who have watched him for years, there's still the silent fear of his physique's fragility. Archer's biggest enemy has been his own body. He's looking to make up for those last years, and he wants to do it with quantity, not just quality. It's what he promised at the start of the season: "Hopefully, I can stay fit for the rest of the games.
"I want to play all this year".
Until the next batting bloodbath, rewatch Archer's Powerplay spells. It's a therapeutic deviation, a rush of blood that somehow calms you, similar to Archer's own persona: all fire inside, all cold outside. He might still turn up for the odd pricey spell, that's the sign of times, but this Archer is as good as we've ever seen. And worth every penny.
For the sake of his own redemption arc, hope there's no injury jinxing him this time.
