Five time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Mumbai Indians’ (MI) Director of Cricket Operations Zaheer Khan is eagerly waiting to see the lethal duo of Jofra Archer and Jasprit Bumrah to lead team's bowling pack in the upcoming edition of the cash reach league. He said that it will be worth the wait when both the ace bowlers start bowling in tandem for the franchise in the IPL 2022.
English speedster Archer was roped in by Mumbai Indians for Rs 8 crore on second day of the IPL mega auction. On the other hand, Bumrah, who the franchise retained as the second player for Rs 12 crore, has never worn another shirt than the Mumbai Indians’, having been with the team since his IPL debut in 2013. In his 106-match career, he has picked 130 wickets at 23.04 with an economy rate of 7.42 and was understandably one of the top choices to be retained.
“You are eagerly waiting for the partnership to go on the field and so am I. To see two legendary fast bowlers bowling in tandem and I’m glad that it seems possible and will be worth the wait,” said Zaheer.
Bumrah has been one of the chief architects of Mumbai’s victorious campaigns in 2017 (when he picked 20 wickets at 22.05 with an economy rate of 7.43), 2019 (19 at 21.53 and 6.63) and 2020 (27 at 14.96 and 6.73). Though Mumbai failed to make it into the playoffs in the most recent edition, Bumrah finished third from top in the leading wicket-takers list, with 21 scalps in 14 games.
And as far as Archer is concerned, he grabbed eyeballs with his 20 scalps in IPL 2020 for Rajasthan Royals while in a total of 35 matches he has snared 46 wickets where 3/15 remained his best performance so far.
Meanwhile, MI owner Akash Ambani has confirmed that England fast bowler Archer will not play in the IPL 2022 edition despite the franchise spending a fortune on getting him in the IPL 2022 Auction. Archer, who is recovering from an elbow surgery, which was done to get rid of a persistent issue that led to him missing the T20 World Cup 2021 and the Ashes 2021-22 in Australia, also missed out on the IPL 2021 after experiencing some problems with his bowling hand.
Rohit Sharma-led MI also picked up Singapore’s Tim David for Rs 8.25 crore in the mega auction.
Talking about Tim David, Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene said: “He is a hot property at the moment and is known to be a hard hitter. We knew we had funds available and a lot of the Hundred players were the target for us. Just like Bumrah-Archer combo with the ball, Pollard-David can be a combo with the bat.”
In the mega auction, Mumbai Indians also picked up Ishan Kishan (Rs 15.25 crore) and Arjun Tendulkar (Rs 30 lakh).
“Ishan Kishan is an Indian batter and he bats left-handed. We always back ourselves when we see talent, Ishan is 23 years old, he is a great aspect of the franchise and that is why we as a franchise value him. It is the dynamics of the auction, this is what auctions are, we are very happy to have him. Ishan has worked hard and he has evolved. We are looking forward to it,” said Jayawardene.
Mumbai Indians picks in IPL 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
