Despite bowling with menace and precision, Archer's 2025 IPL mirrors a haunting tale from 2020 — fast, furious, and fruitless
It's been five long years since Jofra Archer last wore the Rajasthan Royals jersey. During that 2020 season, he put pressure on every batter, swung games with a searing pace, and left with nothing but a shiny MVP medal and the pain of a wooden spoon.
Now, it's 2025. Archer's hair is different, his beard a little fuller, but the plot remains eerily similar — Rajasthan is slipping, and Archer is once again the lone warrior wielding his sword in the fog.
He started this season with a horror show in Hyderabad — 76 runs leaked without a hint of control. But since then, he's found his rhythm. With the new ball, he's a hawk — swooping, spotting, unsettling. In eight matches following that SRH hammering, Archer has opened the bowling and made things happen.
His false shot percentage in the first over is a staggering 53.7%, indicating that more than one delivery out of every two is beating or mishitting the bat. The problem? The wickets don't fall.
In cricketing terms, Archer's season is like catching raindrops with a sieve — all effort, little reward. Statistically, he has induced 25 edges so far in the 2025 IPL, the most by any bowler. However, only one of those has been converted into a dismissal.
That's not just unlucky; it borders on cricketing cruelty. The edges have cost 51 runs, and Archer's average off those edges stands at 51.00, second only to Avesh Khan's baffling blank from 12 edges.
To provide a contrast — Hazlewood has picked up seven wickets from 22 edges; Arshdeep has six from 18. What do Archer's numbers scream? They don't whisper about form or rhythm — they bellow about misfortune.
Against RCB at the Chinnaswamy, Archer remained true to his strength — banging it in short, using the bounce, and extracting fear. On a pitch where taller bowlers thrived with hard lengths, Archer adhered to his plan.
Not a single delivery in that spell was pitched up; his average length sat at 8.75 metres, while others like Farooqi and Deshpande went full and leaked boundaries.
But guess what? Archer's false shot percentage stood at 50% — the highest in the team. Yet, it was still a wicketless spell. The other seamers, pitching up and drawing batters in, combined for less than half that false shot rate. It's a tactical paradox: he bowled too well for the pitch.
Archer's season so far reads: 9 wickets, an economy of 9.25, and an average of 34.44. But scratch that surface, and he's been the Royals' heartbeat in the Powerplay. He has taken six wickets at an average of 25.00 in that phase, while the rest of the attack has mustered just two wickets — at an embarrassing average of 109.5 and an economy over 9.25.
It's like Archer's delivering sharp notes in a symphony that's gone flat. His speed, 143.4 kph, remains intimidating, and his intent is obvious. But a one-man army can only do so much when the support act keeps dropping the mic.
The Royals have now lost five matches in a row, and even if they win their remaining games, 14 points may not guarantee them a playoff spot. Archer must be feeling like Bill Murray in a "Groundhog Day" spin-off — bowling his heart out, repeating the same brilliance, only to find himself back in the same hole.
