Warner falls to Archer in IPL battle with Smith's Royals

David Warner's problems with Jofra Archer continued as he was dismissed for the fifth time this year by the England quick as his Sunrisers Hyderabad side fell to Steve Smith's Rajasthan Royals in overnight Indian Premier League action.

Warner's 48 was the best of the Aussie performances overnight on an unusually quiet night for the Australians in the IPL, while Alex Carey made his IPL debut for Delhi Capitals in their loss to Mumbai Indians in the late match.

Archer had started the early match at Dubai Stadium in sensational form, topping 145kmh in his opening two-over spell against Warner and Jonny Bairstow, conceding just three runs – one of them off a misfield – in his two-over spell.

The Sunrisers openers, perhaps the tournament's most dangerous pair, survived and Warner built his way to 48 from 38 balls, hitting two sixes and three fours, before he was bowled by a 146kmh rocket by the returning Archer, who finished with figures of 1-25.

It was a case of déjà vu for Warner; Archer dismissed him four times during Australia's white-ball tour of England in September.

Across all formats of cricket in 2020, Warner has scored 28 runs from the 41 balls he has faced from Archer, losing his wicket five times. Rajasthan and Hyderabad are scheduled to meet again on October 22.

Chasing Sunrisers' 4-158, Smith was run for five batting at No.3 after Ben Stokes, playing his first match since August, was promoted to open alongside Jos Buttler.

Stokes had little impact on the match, having only been released from his hotel quarantine on match eve. The allrounder who cut short his international season after the first Test against Pakistan ended on August 8 to travel to New Zealand, the country of his birth, to be with his father Ged who has brain cancer, bowled only one over, that went for seven runs, and was bowled for five after six balls.

It was his first T20 match in 238 days and, remarkably, it was only the 29-year-old's fourth white-ball match since his winning role in the World Cup final last year.

A brilliant partnership between Rahul Tewatia and Riyan Parag guided the Royals from 5-78 to a five-wicket victory with a ball to spare.

Delhi handed an IPL debut to Aussie wicketkeeper Carey after Rishabh Pant was ruled out with injury and he struck an unbeaten 14 from 9 balls coming in at No.6 after Marcus Stoinis had been run out for 13 from eight balls.

Carey and Stoinis later combined to claim the wicket of Hardik Pandya, caught behind for a duck, but Stoinis, bowling the final over of the match, saw Krunal Pandya hit two boundaries as they picked off the seven runs required in four balls.

James Pattinson had a tough night with the ball, going for 37 runs from his three overs opening the bowling for Mumbai alongside New Zealand's Trent Boult.

Mumbai and Delhi still occupy the top two places at the halfway mark in the league stage with 10 points each from seven games.