Legendry batsman and former India captain Sunil Gavaskar slammed England pacer Jofra Archer for leaving the Mumbai Indians (MI) camp midway through the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023.
The speedster played just five matches for MI this year. He was forced to leave the ongoing edition of IPL on May 9 due to the recurrence of his elbow injury even before MI could finish their campaign. The move didn’t go down well with the Little Master. As per Gavaskar, MI should not be paying Archer the full amount of ₹8 crore they spent on him at the IPL 2022 auction.
MI paid Archer big money. But, what has he given in return? He didn’t seem to be 100 per cent fit and he should have informed it to MI management. They only realised when he turned up and found that he was barely able to bowl at his usual fiery pace. The speedster was never fully fit, but still came over. If he was committed to the franchise, who probably pay him more than the ECB does, he should have stayed right till the end. Even if he was not going to play, he should have shown his commitment towards the franchise. Instead, he opted to fly off back,” said Gavaskar.
“There is simply no point paying even one rupee for a player, however big a name he may be, if he is not going to be available for the entire tournament. It’s got to be the player’s choice to pick playing for an IPL franchise or his country,” he added.