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England fast bowler Jofra Archer recently opened up about his excitement after getting picked by the five-time Indian Premier League champions Mumbai Indians at the 2022 Mega Auctions. The 26-year-old will not feature in the upcoming season because of an elbow injury. While speaking in a video posted by the MI social media, he talked about the several ‘+91’ calls he started receiving. He also expressed his desire to win titles with the Mumbai-based franchise in the coming years. 

Archer said, "My phone started to go off. Back-to-back messages. I think some guys from the Mumbai team ended up calling me. When I saw calls from +91, I knew exactly what had happened. I was really excited as it is a great franchise."

The Bridgetown-born cricketer then opened up how his term with the Rajasthan Royals helped him learn a lot. However, Archer felt it is paramount for him to get out of a comfortable place and become a more consistent player.

He elucidated, "The change of team and atmosphere is really good because then you get to challenge yourself again because sometimes it is okay to operate in your comfort zone. But once you have gone away and began to perform again in a different team then you can rate yourself."

The 26-year-old then spoke on how footballing great Cristiano Ronaldo took the decision to move out of Spain after spending over a decade at Real Madrid. He added, "It is like when Ronaldo left, many people said that he wasn’t going to be good outside of Spain. But he has proved himself wherever he has gone now and no one can doubt his skills. So it is the same mindset."

Mumbai Indian owner Aakash Ambani, during the auction, revealed how MI planned to sign Archer even if he was available in the next season. He said, "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. 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 concluded.