Jofra Archer was expected to be a key part of the Mumbai Indians squad with Bumrah being ruled out with an injury but the English pacer has missed the last four games with an elbow injury. The pacer has been away for 17 months as he dealt with back and elbow injuries and he made his return to international cricket earlier this year and also represented MI Capetown in the SA 20.
The pacer made his Mumbai Indians debut on April 2 against Royal Challengers Bangalore and is unavailable since. He is expected to come back soon, potentially in their next match against the Punjab Kings. Archer told ESPN Cricinfo “Obviously the last two weeks aren't exactly what you would hope for after being so fully active, But it's what you expect when you've been off for a long time: the body's not going to be 100 percent straight away.”
He continued “There are going to be moments where it feels a lot more serious than it actually is. I don't know which game will be the next game, but I'm just trying to put myself in the best position possible [to play].”
The pace bowler was trusted by the franchise as they picked him up last year for eight crores even when he was going to miss the 2022 season. The Englishman is enjoying his stay in the country so far as he praised the atmosphere at the Wankhede in their game against Chennai. "When we played Chennai at home, I couldn't believe the atmosphere - both teams have an unbelievable following. It is always great seeing the sea of blue [in the stands]," he said.
The 28-year-old wants to have a proper debut at home as he didn’t have the debut the way he wanted.
“I probably didn't have the debut that I wanted," he said, "but I do have the opportunity to debut at home. Hopefully, I can make it a proper one this time.
Archer is currently working with ECB lead physiotherapist Ben Langley who is also the head of sports science and medicine at Mumbai Indians.
