Five time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Mumbai Indians (MI) took a chance on Jofra Archer as they roped him in for INR 8 crore in the IPL mega auction in Bengaluru on Sunday (February 13). Jofra is unlikely to play in the upcoming IPL season
The Mumbai-based franchise played a gamble by signing the english all-rounder as England and Wales Cricket Board earlier said it is 'unlikely' that Archer will play IPL later in the year. MI bought the 26-year-old cricketer after furious bidding war with Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad. Archer was part of the accelerated bidding process which happens from player number 161.
Archer, who had listed his base price at Rs 2 crore, was a late entry into the auction pool. He was part of the set of 44 new players that the 10 franchises had asked the IPL to add to the final shortlist of 590 players (later updated to 600).
The IPL chief operating officer Hemang Amin had said that ECB had made it clear that Archer was "unlikely" to play in IPL 2022 and if any franchise picks him and he doesn't turn up, they would not be able to get a replacement. So, that puts the franchises in a spot.
With the England and Wales Cricket Board planning a June return for the fast bowler, there are chances that Archer will be a regular in the Test squad, once he is fit. In that case, the franchises are apprehensive of his availability even in the current three-year cycle, given England's busy international calendar.
Ishan Kishan was picked by Mumbai Indians during IPL 2022 auction. The team bid a massive price of INR 15.25 for the wicketkeeper. Punjab Kings, Gujarat Titans, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Mumbai Indians engaged in a nail-biting bidding battle to pick Kishan in their squad. Earlier, Kishan set a base price of Rs. 2 crores for himself. The left-handed batsman was part of Mumbai Indians in the last few seasons.
Ahead of the IPL mega auction, MI retained their skipper Rohit Sharma for a whopping amount of INR 16 crore while star speedster Jasprit Bumrah became the second retention with INR 12 crore. Meanwhile, Suryakumar Yadav and Kieron Pollard was the third and fourth retentions for MI with INR 8 crore and 6 crore respectively.
MI's picks in IPL mega auction 2022:
Ishan Kishan – Rs 15.25 Crore
Dewald Brevis – Rs 3 Crore
Basil Thampi – Rs 30 Lakh
Murugan Ashwin – Rs 1.60 Crore
Jaydev Unadkat- Rs 1.30 crore
Tymal Mills- Rs 1.5 crore
Mayank Markande- Rs 65 lakh
Tilak Varma- Rs 1.70 crore
Sanjay Yadav- Rs 50 lakh
Jofra Archer- Rs 8 crore
Daniel Sams- Rs 2.60 crore
Tim David- Rs 8.25 crore
Riley Meredith- Rs 1 crore
Anmolpreet Singh- Rs 20 lakh
Ramandeep Singh- Rs 20 lakh
Rahul Buddhi- Rs 20 lakh
Hrithik Shokeen- Rs 20 lakh
Arjun Tendulkar- Rs 30 lakh
Arshad Khan- Rs 20 lakh
Aryan Juyal- Rs 20 lakh
Fabian Allen- Rs 75 lakh
