The Mumbai Indians fans would have been excited when the franchise landed Jofra Archer during the auctions before the upcoming 2023 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). With Archer also recovering from a long-standing injury recently, the prospects of them seeing the England pacer bowling in tandem with Jasprit Bumrah was something that had got both MI fans and neutrals excited.
However, while Archer is expected to play for the five-time champions this season, chances of Bumrah making an appearances have disappeared. The Indian fast bowler’s back injury had ruled him out of the T20 World Cup last year and he is yet to make a comeback since. It was then confirmed recently that the 29-year-old will be missing the IPL. Bumrah had to undergo a back surgery in New Zealand and recently made his first appearance since then during the Women’s Premier League final between the Mumbai Indians and the Delhi Capitals.
The franchise posted a video of Bumrah talking to Archer on the sidelines of the match on its Instagram page and a number of fans started lamenting the fact that their dream of seeing them bowl together won’t be fulfilled this season in the comments section. “In dono ko sath main khelte dekhne ka sapna sapna hi rahe gaya (The dream of watching these two bowl together has ended up just remaining as a dream),” said one fan. “Deadly duo. Can’t wait for 2024,” said another. A fan felt that the video is “enough to break the internet”. “Boom boom + jofra archer,” said another fan with a lot of heart and fire emojis. “We want them on field,” lamented a fan with a crying emoji.
MI won the inaugural WPL title, beating DC by seven wickets. DC were restricted to a total of 131/9 and MI chased it down with seven wickets but just three balls remaining. Nat Sciver-Brunt scored an unbeaten 60 off 55 balls to lead MI to the trophy.
