IPL 2023: Mumbai Indians' Jofra Archer might return to play against Kolkata Knight Riders

MI vs KKR: Mumbai Indians will take on Kolkata Knight Riders in match 22 of the IPL 2023 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The Rohit Sharma-led side is coming off a six-wicket win over the Delhi Capitals in their last match and the team would like to continue the winning momentum against the Nitish Rana-led side. However, ahead of the match, the hosts are still sweating over Jofra Archer's availability in the upcoming match against Kolkata Knight Riders.

Jofra Archer sustained an elbow injury during the practice sessions before the match against MS Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings and he also didn't play the last match against the Delhi Capitals. Now, before the match Mumbai Indian star batsman Tim David has come up with an update on Archer's availability. 

READ: GT vs RR IPL Live Score, today match latest updates

What's Jofra Archer's fitness status?

As per PTI, Tim David said in the pre-match press interaction, "At present, Jofra Archer is being monitored by the medical team and I am not a part of those conversations. As soon as they feel he is fit, Archer would be ready to play." 

READ: MI vs KKR IPL Live Score, today match latest updates

However, besides all the chaos there are possibilities that Jofra Archer might play in the team's crucial encounter against Kolkata Knight Riders as he was seen batting during the Mumbai Indians batting session just ahead of the match at the Wankhede Stadium. 

Mumbai Indians are already dealing with the absence of their lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah who is out of the Indian Premier League 2023 due to his back injury. Archer was supposed to lead the MI pace attack in Bumrah's unavailability, but the conjecture around the English pacer's fitness, the team is heavily relying on Aussie pacer Jason Beherendorff. 

Beherendorff was traded to Mumbai Indians before the IPL 2023 mini auctions from the Royal Challengers Bangalore. The tall and lanky Aussie speedster was pretty decent with the ball in the last match with his performance against Delhi Capitals. The left-arm MI pacer picked up three wickets and played important role in derailing Delhi Capitals' batting lineup. 

Getting back to Mumbai Indians' current scenario in the Indian Premier League 2023, the men in blue and gold are at the 9th spot in the points table and have two points from three matches. MI faced brutal defeats in their first two matches against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings and once again didn't have a great start to their campaign. 

However, the Rohit Sharma-led side would like to continue the momentum they received from the win against Delhi Capitals and climb further in the points table.