• Home
  • Cricket News
  • Why Did Rajasthan Royals Pick Sandeep Sharma Over Jofra Archer In Super Over Vs Dc

Why Did Rajasthan Royals Pick Sandeep Sharma Over Jofra Archer In Super Over Vs DC?

Aakash Saini

Sanju Samson and Sandeep Sharma [Source: @mufaddal_vohra, @ArunTuThikHoGya/x]Sanju Samson and Sandeep Sharma [Source: @mufaddal_vohra, @ArunTuThikHoGya/x]

Rajasthan Royals crashed and burned to a close defeat to hosts Delhi Capitals in match 32 of the IPL 2025 season. After both teams were involved in a 188-run deadlock at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, the Royals batted first and accrued 12 runs in the Super Over.

However, a tactical blunder, as it appears, costed Royals the match as Capitals openers KL Rahul and Tristan Stubbs comfortably shrugged off the required runs with a couple of balls to spare. The two blistering batters countered Sandeep Sharma with utmost ease, whacking the Royals speedster for a boundary before launching a match-winning hit.

Here, we will examine as to why the Rajasthan Royals skipper, Sanju Samson, opted to go with Sandeep for the Super Over instead of his raging pace merchant Jofra Archer.

Why did Royals pick Sandeep Sharma for Super Over?

Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson picked Sandeep Sharma as his pace weapon for the Super Over against Delhi Capitals’ KL Rahul and Tristan Stubbs. Following Capitals’ win in Delhi, several fans and experts questioned Samson’s decision of favoring Sandeep over England-based and in-form fast bowler Jofra Archer.

While one can assume that Samson opted for Sandeep’s pace-off deliveries in a bid to avoid feeding Archer’s extreme pace to the batters, the Rajasthan Royals skipper himself confirmed that the former has been bowling his toughest overs in the IPL for the last few seasons. The wicketkeeper-batter stated that he usually employs Sandeep to bowl within the powerplay, and in the slog overs.

Nonetheless, the outcome marked Rajasthan Royals’ fifth defeat this IPL 2025 season, and third in succession as they slipped to number eighth position on the 10-team points table. They will now face the LSG franchise on Saturday, April 19 in Jaipur.