Elbow injury, finger injury, a back stress fracture!
Jofra Archer has been struggling with injuries since the 3rd of January 2020-- when the right-arm fast bowler was first ruled out of the 2nd England Test against South Africa as his elbow issue had flared up.
From 3rd January 2020 to 9th May 2023, when he was again ruled out of the Indian Premier League, the 27-year-old had undergone 5 operations.
The pacer missed the entire 2021 IPL season due to his injury, in early 2022 too, no one was sure about Archer's return to IPL.
But during the IPL mega auction that took place in February 2022, the 5-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians broke the bank, splurging as much as 8 crores knowing full well that Archer won't feature for them in IPL 2022.
And on May 19, 2022, ECB announced Archer suffered a stress fracture in his back and was ruled out for the entire summer.
Despite all this, the owners of Mumbai Indians- who also own a team in SA20, the South African T20 league, showed faith in the Brabarados-born bowler. They bought the pacer for MI Cape Town as a wildcard player.
Cut to the current edition, IPL 2023, there was an eagerness to see Archer return.
That--- mostly because Archer began playing competitive cricket in January. He reminded the world of his brilliant wicket-taking abilities when he picked up 3 wickets for 27 runs in his first game for MI Cape Town against Paarl Royals. He finished the SA20 season with 10 wickets in 6 matches.
While the Indian crowd was expecting fireworks and the franchise was also looking forward to a great out-turn on their hefty investment, none happened!
Mid-way through IPL 2023, Archer flew back home--- to focus on his recovery from the right-hand elbow surgery!
As of May 9, 2023, Mumbai had played 10 IPL matches-- and Archer only 5.
Right after playing Mumbai's opening game against RCB, the Englishman briefly travelled to Belgium to visit a specialist for his right elbow discomfort--- this forced him to miss 4 matches.
His performance too was underwhelming. The England pacer picked just 2 wickets at an economy of 9.50.
While he has missed 2 seasons entirely, he failed to make an impact on his return in 2023 and was eventually ruled out because of his incessant injury woes...
When buying him in 2022, MI couldn't predict the future, their faith in him made them retain him in 2023, but after being marked 'ruled out' yet again will MI be willing enough to include Archer in their squad next year or is it the end of Archer's journey with Mumbai?
Or could it be the end of his IPL journey altogether?
Only time will tell.