IPL 2025: Take bad days in stride, says Archer about PBKS' mixed start to season

New Chandigarh, April 6 (IANS) Jofra Archer has redeemed himself in a fiery manner with a Player of the Match (POTM) performance in Rajasthan Royals’ 50-run victory over Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 here on Saturday.

The 30-year-old quick was smacked for the most expensive spell in IPL history in the first game of the season against Sunrisers Hyderabad when he conceded 76 runs in his four-over spell. On Saturday, he castled Shreyas Iyer and Priyansh Arya in the very first over of the match, laying the foundation for a famous victory.

Archer reflected on the first game and said the most important thing is to always enjoy yourselves.

“Beginning of the tournament, games like that happen. Most importantly, happy to contribute to the team. When there are days like this, you have to make sure you cash in. Enjoy the good ones, take the bad ones in your stride. You have to understand that you will be lucky in some circumstances, in others, the batters might be 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,” said Archer while collecting his award.

Skipper Sanju Samson, who took the captaincy for the first time this season after having to play as a specialist batter in the opening three games of the tournament whilst recuperating from surgery on his finger, joked about the mixed combination of Archer and Sandeep Sharma, who took five wickets between them and applauded the former for his contribution.

“That's a very deadly combo (Archer and Sandeep), one guy bowling at 150 and one guy at 115,” joked Samson.

“We all love it when he (on Archer) bowls fast. Doing it for me in the last four years; he is one of the best guys in India right now, bowling fast. We did have a small meeting in the timeout, and I suggested they are a quality side and we can't take it easy. Till the last ball is bowled, we can't guarantee a win.

“We focused on the process, and the result took care of itself. We took our time to find out what the best combination and lineups, and orders are, injuries we have to take care of, as this is a long tournament,” he said.

--IANS

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