"The Mumbai guys are also getting happy" - Aakash Chopra feels Jofra Archer is back to his very best

Aakash Chopra feels the Mumbai Indians (MI) will be delighted as Jofra Archer seems to be back to his very best.

MI acquired Archer for ₹8 crore at the IPL 2022 auction despite knowing that he won't be available for last year's edition of the league. The five-time champions will be hoping that the England seamer is fully fit and available for the upcoming edition of the tournament.

In the "Aakashvani" show on JioCinema, Chopra analyzed Jofra Archer's SA20 footage and opined that the Mumbai Indians would be quite pleased with his performances, elaborating:

"Is Jofra Archer ready? He played SA20, looked hot at times and cold on other occasions but six wickets against South Africa in an ODI. He bowled yorkers, bouncers and the ball was hitting high on the bat, where the sticker is there. So Jofra is already doing that. It just warms my heart and the Mumbai guys are also getting happy."

The former Indian opener pointed out that the lanky pacer seems to have added another variation to his arsenal, explaining:

"Talking about his variations, he is bowling his stock delivery which comes into the right-handers and goes away from the left-handers, then a leg-cutter but we also noticed a back-of-the-hand slower ball, which we have seen Jofra bowl very few times but we saw it in the SA20."

Archer has picked up eight wickets at a reasonable economy rate of 7.57 in the five matches he has played for MI Cape Town in the SA20. He registered his best figures of 3/27 in the very first match he played against the Paarl Royals.

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"You can do all these things if you have the confidence" - Aakash Chopra on Jofra Archer

Jofra Archer has previously played for the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL.

Chopra feels Archer is supremely confident at the moment, observing:

"You can do all these things if you have the confidence. So I feel Jofra is back to his very, very best. He is even diving while fielding, he has complete confidence and he is not holding himself back."

While observing that the Mumbai Indians had taken a risk in acquiring Archer, the former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) player reckons the opposition batters might be worried about the prospect of facing him in tandem with Jasprit Bumrah, stating:

"It was a huge investment from the Mumbai Indians franchise that they took Jofra when they knew that he will not be available. I am convinced that he will play this year. Fingers crossed, he remains fit till then and if Bumrah at one end and Jofra at the other, I would not want to bat in such a match."

Rohit Sharma and Co. will hope that Bumrah also regains full fitness ahead of IPL 2023. The Gujarat seamer has been out of action due to a back injury and has not been picked in the Indian squad for the first two Tests against Australia.