Ferreira after match-winning 52*: 'Kept my mind clear, like a kid playing with a toy truck'
RR allrounder struck an unbeaten 52 to hand PBKS their first defeat of IPL 2026
Rajasthan Royals (RR) allrounder Donovan Ferreira kept it simple on the night of his first real IPL match-winning performance. After hitting an unbeaten 26-ball 52 to end table-toppers Punjab Kings' (PBKS) winning streak in IPL 2026, Tuesday evening's Player-of-the-Match said he was just taking it ball by ball.
"Just kept my mind nice and clear," Ferreira told the broadcaster after RR's six-wicket win. "Exactly the same as when I was a kid playing with a toy truck."
Ferreira, the South Africa international, was traded into the RR squad ahead of IPL 2026 from Delhi Capitals (DC) for INR 1 crore. And earlier in the season had impressed with a 44-ball 69 against Sunrisers Hyderabad, however, the runs on that night came when the game was all but lost.
This time, he walked in at 123 for 3 in the 12th over chasing a target of 223 with the game very much on even as RR were only about 35% favourites to win according to ESPNcricinfo's forecaster.RelatedTime running out for MI's famous turnaround
But with a 32-ball unbeaten partnership of 77 with No. 6 Shubham Dubey, Ferreira played the leading role in guiding RR past the target and lifting them from fourth to third on the IPL 2026 points table.
"I kept on telling the guys, 'we need to be positive, it's not that hard to get that score," Ferreira said. "[I said] 'we need to keep showing intent, we mustn't be predictable and swing every ball. So let's be calculative and play good cricket shots.'"
With a solid base set in the chase courtesy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's 16-ball 43 and Yashasvi Jaiswal's 27-ball 51, RR only needed about 12 per over in the last eight overs. That, Ferreira said, helped, as he knew "one good over" would make RR firm favourites in the chase.
Which is exactly what happened: the 18th over from Arshdeep Singh leaked 17, the 19th from Lockie Ferguson went for 16, and Ferreira finished the game with four balls to spare by clubbing Marco Jansen for six over mid-on in the 20th.
"I think it's important to really just take it ball by ball and not look too far ahead," Ferreira said. "I just kept on reminding myself, it's only 12s [per over] or 10s [per over required], so just one good over and then the game becomes a lot simpler.
"Luckily for me, Shubham came in and took a lot of pressure off me and played a crucial knock over there. And I knew if I just stay there, not lose my wicket, then I can catch up in one over. So luckily for me, that happened in the last over of Lockie [Ferguson]'s bowling."
Ferreira revealed that coming into the game, the team had discussed that they couldn't rely only on their prolific and young opening pair of Jaiswal and Sooryavanshi alone to set up victories. And in that context, this kind of performance from the middle-order was important. Apart from Shubham and Ferreira, Riyan Parag too contributed an important cameo of 29 in just 16 balls on a day the team pivoted slightly by leaving both Shimron Hetmyer and Ravi Bishnoi on the bench.
"I'm really pleased that I'm hitting the ball well. Shubham came in and did well too. And Jaiswal and them are always setting it up in the first couple of overs," Ferreira said. "But it's important that when it's your day you need to step up and win the match for the team."
"You need to win games to stay in the top four. It's a long tournament so we just keep reminding ourselves that different guys should put their hands up. We can't just rely on our openers who have been really good for us."
RR now sit on third place with 12 points in nine games. They will now return to their home base of Jaipur to host Delhi Capitals on May 1 before a week-long break. After that, they face Gujarat Titans, again at home, on May 9.