Why Mumbai Indians splurged ₹8 crore on Jofra Archer despite England pacer's injury: 'He is going to play next year'
"Jofra has been a player Mahela gave his first professional debut to and since then we have been thinking about them as a pair. So happy that we got them together. Although he is going to play next year, we are very happy to have Jofra and Bumrah make a lethal pair for our bowling attack,” Ambani said during a break.
The entire time, Mumbai Indians fans were waiting for the franchise to make a move in the IPL 2022 auction. They made some noise on the opening day purchasing Ishan Kishan for INR15.25 crore but remained quiet otherwise. And on Sunday, Day 2, the reason became apparent why.
After waiting a long time, MI made triggered first big buy of the day when Jofra Archer's name came up for grabs. The MI table went into a frenzy, getting involved in a bidding war first with Rajasthan Royals and then with Sunrisers Hyderabad. From a base price of INR2 crore, Archer went into the five-crore club in the blink of an eye. With SRH getting close to INR7 crore, they had to fold as MI took up into a relentless approach to get him. In the end, Archer joined the five-time IPL champions for a sum of INR8 crore.
However, many pondered if the decision made sense, given Archer's injury status. Over the last year, Archer's elbow has troubled him and after undergoing a surgery, the England pacer is currently ruled out with no immediate signs of returning. Having said that, MI owner Aakash Ambani revealed the plan that going into signing Archer, looking at it from more of an investment point of view.
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"Jofra has been a player Mahela gave his first professional debut to and since then we have been thinking about them as a pair. So happy that we got them together. Although he is going to play next year, we are very happy to have Jofra and Bumrah make a lethal pair for our bowling attack," Ambani said during a break.
Another interesting buy which MI managed was that of Tymal Mills, the England pacer. The left-arm quick has in the past represented the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the reason MI got him on board, as Ambani explained, had to do with another Mahela Jayawardene connection.
"We thought Tymal would go for a lot more. He's an experienced death bowler. He's one of the main picks we had this season so that we manage to stay competitive this season too. Mahela coaches him at the 100. He's remained injury free too," he added.
