IPL 2022 Mega Auction: Jofra Archer joins MI; Paltan caution lethal combination with Bumrah

England all-rounder Jofra Archer was sold to Mumbai Indians for Rs 8 crore on Sunday's Day 2 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 mega auction in Bengaluru. The Rohit Sharma-led side bought the 26-year-old cricketer after a fierce bidding war with Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad. RR had to pull out after a bid of Rs. 6.25 core. SRH joined the bidding, but MI's desire to get him proved too strong.

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Mumbai Indians took a calculated risk by signing the English cricketer even as the ECB had earlier said it is 'unlikely' that Jofra Archer will play IPL later in the year. In the email sent to franchises earlier this month, the IPL chief operating officer Hemang Amin had said that Archer would be part of the accelerated set of players, which will commence from Player No. 161.

Despite doubts over Jofra Archer's availability for IPL 2022, Mumbai Indians' fans seemed excited to add the 'man of biggest occasions' in their 'paltan' with several warning other teams of the Archer-Jasprit Bumrah combination. The news came even as Archer took to Twitter to express keenly watching the bidding process.

Archer, who had listed his base price at Rs 2 crore, was a late entry into the IPL 2022 mega auction pool. He was part of the 44 new players that the ten franchises had asked the organisers to add to the final shortlist of 600 players. Archer has not played any competitive cricket since England's tour to India in March 2021. He missed the entire IPL 2021, the 2021 T20 World Cup, and the Ashes.

Also read: IPL 2022 Mega Auction: How the 10 franchises shaped up heading into Day 2

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