In the 28th match of IPL 2026, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) faced Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Sunday. Jofra Archer achieved a significant milestone at Eden Gardens, equaling a major record held by Mohammad Shami.
Archer clean bowled Tim Seifert on the very first ball of KKR's innings. This marked the fifth time in IPL history that Archer took a wicket on the first ball of an innings. He became the joint first bowler in the league to take the most wickets on the first ball of an innings.
Alongside Archer, Mohammad Shami has also dismissed batsmen on the first ball of an innings five times in IPL. This was the third instance in IPL 2026 where Archer took a wicket on the first ball of an innings. Previously, he had dismissed Phil Salt on the first ball against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Abhishek Sharma on the first ball against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Both Tim Seifert and KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane returned to the pavilion without scoring. Rahane was dismissed for zero by Nandre Burger. This was only the second time in IPL history that both KKR openers were out without scoring.
The first instance was in 2014 when Gautam Gambhir and Jacques Kallis were dismissed for zero. Rajasthan Royals batted first, scoring 155 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in 20 overs. The opening pair of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Suryaanshi provided a strong start, adding 81 runs for the first wicket in 8.4 overs.
Vaibhav scored a powerful 46 runs off just 28 balls, while Yashasvi made 39 runs off 29 balls. However, after the dismissals of Vaibhav and Yashasvi, Rajasthan Royals' innings faltered, losing wickets at regular intervals.
Dhruv Jurel (5 runs), Riyan Parag (12 runs), and Hetmyer (15 runs) could not make significant contributions. For KKR, Kartik Tyagi and Varun Chakravarthy took 3 wickets each.
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