Jofra Archer is ready to breathe fire again on the cricket field with the ball in hand, the England fast bowler announced on Twitter on New year’s day, January 1.
This is very happy and positive news for the Mumbai Indians fans, who have been waiting to see Archer and Bumrah bowl in tandem ever since the 5-time IPL champions bought the England seamer at the IPL 2022 auction for a hefty price of INR 8 crore.
Archer has been out of international cricket and top-level cricket since April 2021 due to multiple injuries. He has missed some key events in this period, though England did win the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia without Archer, which only reflects their squad depth in white-ball cricket.
England’s leading wicket-taker in their 2019 ODI World Cup victory and the bowler who delivered the Super over in the final vs New Zealand, Archer last played an international match in March 2021, on England’s tour of India.
Jofra After had gone under the operation knife multiple times:
First for his finger injury to remove glasses that got inside his finger while he was cleaning a fish tank; then he had two surgeries for a long-standing elbow issue, and finally, a stress fracture of the lower back ruled him out of action in 2022.
Last month, he made a positive return to the England set-up in the UAE last month, training with the England Lions and taking part in the warm-up match against the Test squad, in which he hit Zak Crawley on the head with a sharp bouncer in the first of his nine overs.
Jofra Archer will make his return to top-flight cricket for MI Cape Town in the upcoming SA20, starting January 10. He will make his international return in the ODI series in South Africa this month. If these comebacks go well, Archer would be seen running in and bowling lethal bouncers in the IPL 2023 too.
On Sunday, Jofra Archer took to his Twitter to post some pictures of his surgeries, the time and pain he’d gone through, and of his bowling in a warm-up game.
“2022 thank you 2023 I’m ready,” Archer captioned his post.
2022 thank you 🙏🏾
2023 I’m ready 🤝 pic.twitter.com/UeH3PaVReh— Jofra Archer (@JofraArcher) January 1, 2023
