MI vs RCB: Jofra Archer to debut for Mumbai Indians? head coach Boucher drops subtle hints

IPL 2023: Rohit Sharma's Mumbai Indians will seek a fresh start when they travel to Bengaluru to take on Royal Challengers Bangalore in their first match in the Indian Premier League. Mumbai finished last in the IPL last season and the five-time champions faced severe criticism for their display. They will be adamant to put their season back on track this time around.

There have been severe concerns regarding Jofra Archer's health but ahead of the match Mumbai head coach Mark Boucher confirmed the English international is fit and raring to go. Archer was acquired in the 2022 mega auction but wasn't involved in any capacity due to a long injury haul.

Mark Boucher provides a big update on Jofra Archer's health

But this year the expectations are huge as prime bowler Jasprit Bumrah has already been ruled out for the entire season. Boucher said, 

"Jofra is good, he is 100 per cent ready for tomorrow. He didn't train today, it was an optional training session. He felt that he was ready to put the spikes on tomorrow. We are very happy with his progression since he has been with us. He'll be playing tomorrow." The five time champions had a poor last season where they finished 10th but Boucher doesn't want to look back as he wasn't in charge back then.I can't comment too much about last year I wasn't there. But we have spoken about it, some new talents in the team, new energy, some guys who have done really well in the previous IPLs."

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"They understand that last year we didn't have a good season but things can change very quickly, energies have been good, we are in a good space." "If we get off to good start great, if we don't we'll definitely not panic. The IPL is not won in April or March, it's won in May. Hopefully, we can get a good start and get some momentum."

The former South African wicket-keeper also revealed that skipper Rohit Sharma is fully fit and will do the leadership role as usual. 

"Yes, Rohit is fit. He has trained the last two days and is 100 per cent ready to go. I think he didn't feel particularly well that morning and just as a precaution, we told him to stay at home," Boucher said at the pre-match press conference on Saturday.

"There are a lot of photo shoots the boys have had to do. He's not had a lot of time to himself so we thought it was better."

(Inputs from PTI)