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When the Mumbai Indians shelled out a huge chunk of their purse (INR 8 crore) on Jofra Archer at the IPL mega auction in 2022, they had only one vision in mind - to assemble the deadliest pace partnership in the tournament along with Jasprit Bumrah.
Archer and Bumrah can intimidate any batting line-up, especially in death overs. Archer's overall economy of 7.20 and death-overs economy of 9.03 in three IPL seasons playing for the Rajasthan Royals were fantastic.
When RR decided against retaining him before the mega auction, it was not surprising that MI went hard for the Jamaica-born English cricketer.
Archer missed the IPL 2022 season due to an elbow injury and has played two matches so far in 2023. He hasn't performed as expected, conceding 75 runs in eight overs for just one wicket.
If we analyze Archer's purchase and the impact it has had on MI, then he is certainly one of the worst buys for the franchise in recent years. In this article, we'll explore three reasons why the move hasn't worked out as expected.
3 reasons why Jofra Archer has been one of the worst buys for MI in recent years
#3 Overspending in overambition
MI had already splurged INR 23.50 crore to buy Ishan Kishan and Tim David before going for Jofra Archer. This meant they didn't have enough money for more players as they still had to structure their bowling attack.
But the ambition of having the dream pair of Archer-Bumrah in their bowling attack lured them into shelling out more for the Englishman despite knowing his unavailability for IPL 2022.
MI have always been known for unearthing gems, but their recent trend of splurging on superstars has been one of the reasons for the franchise's downfall in recent years.
#2 Jofra's buy affected the balance of the team
In acquiring Jofra Archer, the Mumbai Indians chose to ignore a number of other bowlers who were not only a perfect fit for the structure of the team but could have also been deadly at Wankhede.
This meant that MI didn't have enough budget to assemble a potent bowling attack, which was clearly visible as they bought what was a second-string domestic fast bowling unit in Basil Thampi and Jaydev Unadkat.
They also failed to buy quality Indian spinners due to budget constraints, and they did let go of many of them to target Archer in the auction.
#1 Archer's injury record
Mumbai were persistent in getting Jofra Archer at any cost and eventually got him for INR 8 crore, despite knowing that the pacer had not played any competitive cricket since May 2021 due to a stress fracture in his elbow. He even underwent surgery after an attempted comeback for Sussex that year.
After making his return to competitive cricket in the SA20 league, Archer aggravated the injury in the IPL.
Mumbai, who were already without the services of Bumrah, were overly dependent on Archer to add some steel to their bowling attack. But his absence meant that their bowling has lacked teeth in IPL 2023.
