Mumbai Indians bid an amount of Rs 8 crore to pick England fast bowler Jofra Archer in the Indian Premier League mega auction on Sunday.
Heading into the accelerated auction with the biggest purse remaining among the 10 teams, the five-time IPL champions faced competition from Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals too wanted him back, but were relentless in their pursuit of Archer.
Blog: Day two of the IPL 2022 mega auction
It was an interesting move by MI as Archer is likely to miss the entire 2022 edition of the T20 tournament due to elbow injury. According to a report by ESPNcricinfo, IPL chief operating officer Hemang Amin had interacted with the England and Wales Cricket Board before informing all the franchises that they would NOT get a replacement if they picked Archer and he didn’t turn up for the season.
Archer made his IPL debut in 2018 and was with Rajasthan Royals from the start. But his injury forced him to miss the 2021 edition entirely. He last played an international game in March 2021 – a T20I in India. According to ECB, he is likely to return to action only in June.
The 26-year-old may well miss IPL 2022 but MI will be hopeful he comes good in the two seasons after that. He is rated as one of the finest fast bowlers of his generation and along with Jasprit Bumrah, he could form a lethal pair for Mumbai Indians.
“Jofra has been a player that Mahela (coach Jayawardene) gave his first professional debut to and since then, we have been thinking about them (Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer) as a pair and we’re so happy that we got them together although it’s going to be next year but we’re very very happy to have Jof and Boom make a lethal pair for our bowling attack,” said MI owner Akash Ambani.
IPL Auction 2022: Mumbai Indians owner Akash Ambani explains bids for Jofra Archer, Tim David & more
Also read:
IPL Auction 2022 as it happened: Ishan, Chahar, Thakur, Krishna, Avesh rake in the big bucks
IPL 2022 Auction, day one: Ishan Kishan, Deepak Chahar go big – full list of players signed by teams
IPL Auction 2022: From Ishan Kishan to Deepak Chahar - A look at the most expensive reunions
Watch: Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar and more react to mega bids at IPL 2022 auction
Here are some reactions to the eye-ball grabbing moment from Sunday:
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