Mumbai Indians head coach Mark Boucher is hopeful of having England speedster Jofra Archer for the forthcoming games of the IPL. The 28-year-old played his second game for the five-time champions after missing four games on the trot during an injury.
The 2019 World Cup winner played his first game against Royal Challengers Bangalore before injury kept him out of action for some time. Jofra Archer returned to playing 11 replacing Riley Meredith against Punjab Kings on Saturday, had a decent outing with the ball picking an important wicket of Sam Curran after his heroics in Wankhede.
Archer worked closely with Mumbai Indian’s medical staff to get himself ready for the clash against Punjab Kings. Speaking to the media, about his comeback into the side, Mumbai Indians head coach Mark Boucher was elated with bowling as he bowled at a good pace and executed a few yorkers in the death overs trying to stop run flow in a true batting wicket.
“I thought Jof bowled us some good pace. He landed a couple of Yorkers. The wicket was good to bat on and thus, we knew it was going to be a tough night for our bowlers. For that, I think for his first outing, we’ll take it,” Mark Boucher said.
Coming into the Match, Punjab Kings was once again led by Sam Curran in the absence of their regular skipper Shikhar Dhawan missing out on the clash due to an injury, batting first Punjab Kings had a decent with the bat as their youngster Prabhsimran Singh and Atharva Taide giving a good start in the power play, Mumbai Indians came back into the contest picking up wickets in quick succession to put Punjab Kings in struggling position of 83-4 just inside the 10 overs marks.
Punjab Kings skipper Sam Curran joined alongside Harpreet Bhatia to put on a partnership for their side and both the batters targeted the young Arjun Tendulkar in the 16th over taking him for cleaners in all parts of the ground to score 31 runs changing the momentum in favour of their side. In the final five overs Punjab Kings scored 96 runs to put a mammoth total of 214-8 at the end of 20 overs.
With 215 to chase, Mumbai Indians lost their star batter Ishan Kishan 1 (4) in the second over. Australian hard hitter Cameron Green joined alongside Rohit Sharma to take the team fighting position before their skipper was dismissed cheaply by Liam Livingstone.
With more than 14 runs to score an over, Suryakumar Yadav put on a show alongside Cameron Green to take his side close to victory. At one stage it looked like Mumbai Indians will get over the line before Green and Suryakumar Yadav caught up in the final overs. Arshdeep Singh was the star of the match for the Punjab Kings conceding only two runs in the final overs picking up the important wickets Tilak Varma and Nehal Wadhera.
It’s Always Good To See Jofra Archer Running in At Full Pace – Mark Boucher
Mark Boucher is optimistic about Jofra Archer’s availability for the rest of the games and wants him to put his name in the selection for the upcoming games and said that are grateful to have him on the team.
“Hopefully, he’s not feeling any pain tomorrow and he can be up and running and put his name in the selection for the next game. It’s always good to see Jof running in at full pace so we’re grateful for that,” Mark Boucher added.
Mumbai Indians will take on the defending champions Gujarat Titans on April 25 in Narendra Modi Stadium and will look to return to winnings ways against them.