Jofra Archer isn't the same. Think of him at the turn of the decade: sunk on the ground at Lord's, a newly-minted World Cup winner thanks to his Super Over in the final. Soon after, he wore the Rajasthan Royals pink-and-blue at the 2020 IPL. He plucked out ten wickets in the powerplay at an economy of 4.34. Among those who have bowled at least 15 overs in a season, this economy rate remains a record.
Look back at that Archer bowling, and you might want to call him 'vintage'. The word is a double-edged sword. It implies a player has left his best behind. His past exists as an archetype: one he can only slip into once in a while, not one he can fully recover. Archer is certainly a long way away from the carefree 25-year-old he was back then. He is six years older, his body plagued by elbow injuries, a back injury, a spliced finger.
He missed the IPL - and international cricket - in 2021 and 2022. In 2023, he played five games for Mumbai Indians at an economy of 9.50. He returned for Rajasthan Royals after another gap year, but went at 9.47 in 2025.
But even at his most expensive - then, and now - Archer has always looked vintage. Fulfilling a different archetype: a throwback not to his younger self, but to an era of fast bowling we thought we left behind with the Michael Holdings of this world. He glides to the crease, elegant and front-on, releasing the ball as an afterthought and just a little earlier than you would expect.
This year at the IPL, batters haven't had much time to appreciate his run-up. They've been busy getting out to him. In three of his previous four games, Archer has taken a wicket with his first ball. It has propelled him to joint-first, alongside Mohammed Shami, on the list of most first-wicket deliveries at the IPL (five).
His first delivery to Phil Salt, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru opener, is the most suggestive of the lot. He delivered it back-of-a-length, but in an instant, it had snorted up near Salt's chest. All at the same time, Salt was ducking out of the way, second-guessing a pull shot, and taking his eyes off the ball.
The secret ingredient here - the vintage bit from Archer's initial years of success - is the effectiveness of his high release point. He can spear it in fuller than most other fast bowlers and still get it to climb at you. Even a batter of repute, like Salt, can be reduced to second-guessing the trajectory of a delivery.
Still, what has turned Archer from troublesome - with his high release point - to lethal is his renewed pace. In the powerplay, 60% of his deliveries have been bowled at more than 140kph. The Archer of new is spearing it in like the Archer of old, extracting extra bounce from the most innocuous of pitches. Batters have responded with a false shot 34% of the time in this opening phase of the game. In other words, you will misplay Archer at least twice an over if he has the new ball.
Archer is the joint-most successful bowler in the powerplay this year: he has taken seven wickets, the same as Rabada. But while Rabada has gone at an economy of 9.92 and an average of 19.85, Archer has kept the same numbers down to 7.85 and 15.71 respectively.
These numbers have made him the leading new-ball bowler at the IPL for the first time in half a decade. Yet, the numbers also tell us a more nuanced story. Six years since Archer dominated the IPL, batters - and data analysis - has made it a much more ruthless tournament. Archer has looked as good as ever and still gone almost 2.5 runs more per powerplay over than he did in 2020.
Back in 2020, he had better numbers against left-handers - with an economy of 4.16 and an average of 8.5 - than he did against right-handers - 4.42 and 13.16. He would go over the stumps, land it back of a length, and angle it away while inviting batters to chance their arms. He was as good as unplayable when he deployed this tactic to David Warner, across formats. In just 2020, he took his wicket six times in seven innings, giving away 32 runs in 45 balls.
Compare it to this year at the IPL: Archer has an economy of 9.4 against left-handers, with a control percentage of 78% (against right-handers, the numbers drop down to 6.9 and 54% respectively). His reduced effectiveness against left-handers has, along with a general scoring uptrend, led to a bump in his powerplay figures.
At the same time, Archer must be aware of an upside when you are as vintage as him: you can always elevate your own bowling beyond the facts. Against Sunrisers Hyderabad on their home turf a week and a half ago, despite Abhishek Sharma's favourable match-up against him - 62 runs from 34 balls, never dismissed - he plucked out the left-handed Abhishek first ball: a short ball rising high, angled away from him, inducing a catch to backward point.
On Saturday, he will face SRH's three big-hitting left-handers again - Abhishek, Travis Head (47 runs off 28 balls, 2 wickets) , Ishan Kishan (72 off 52, no dismissals) - at his own home ground. The numbers tell us despite Archer's recent powerplay success, these match-ups won't be in his favour. History tells us Archer, with the new ball, can make us forget them anyway.
With stats inputs from Namooh Shah and Gaurav Sundararaman. Stats as of April 24, 2026, until before the start of RCB vs GT
