Five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians spent big money on buying Jofra Archer in the Mega Auction on Sunday despite his availability concerns, and the fact that he might not play for the franchise in the upcoming season.

 

Mumbai got Archer for INR eight crore despite the pacer not playing any competitive cricket in the last 10 months due to an elbow injury.

 

In an email reportedly sent to franchises earlier this month, IPL chief operating officer Hemang Amin had said that Archer would be part of the accelerated set of players. Amin had also reportedly said that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had made it clear that Archer was "unlikely" to play in IPL 2022 and if any franchise picks him up they will not be able to get a replacement.

 

"The ECB has registered Jofra Archer for the auction with a view to potential participation in 2023 and 2024, as due to his current injury it is unlikely that he can participate in IPL 2022," ESPNcricinfo had quoted Amin as saying earlier in February.

 

However, former India pacer Zaheer told the Mumbai Indians website that, "We're very excited, two of the world's best fast bowlers bowling in tandem together."

 

Zaheer when asked about MI going all guns blazing to get wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan, said, "We all love him, he is a young upcoming kid and has been with us for the last four years so we definitely wanted him back. Him and Rohit (Sharma) are going to be a force to reckon with at the top."

 

On South African Dewald Brevis, the pace bowler said, "We hope that we will grow further and his journey is fast tracked by being around such high impact experienced (SA) players."

 

Singapore big-hitting finisher Tim David was a surprise purchase by MI and head coach Mahela Jayawardene said, "He was on our radar for a while. He has been playing well for the last few months. We knew Jofra (Archer) would come late so we couldn't go hard in the beginning but needed someone to strengthen our batting so we decided to play a different game altogether. David was part of that plan. We had the purse to go get them both."

 

On the several uncapped players bough by MI over the weekend, the former Sri Lankan great said, "Credit to the scouting team of MI, they've worked really hard to help us make the right decisions at the table, they've helped us understand what kind of players will suit our setup. We have our core group ready and we'll have young players around that."