Why is Jofra Archer Not Playing Today’s IPL 2023 Match Between Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians at the Narendra Modi Stadium?

Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma has won the toss and chose to bowl in the 35th match of the ongoing 16th season of the Indian Premier League at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

“We are gonna bowl first. We saw the pitch, it was hard. They put a lot of water there. Want to make best use of the conditions,” Sharma told host broadcaster Star Sports Network at the toss.

Not affected much by the toss in the general run of things, Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya agreed with his counterpart with respect to the water content on the pitch. “It [pitch] looks good. Looks watery. It has been a belter though,” Pandya told Star Sports.

Why is Jofra Archer Not Playing Today vs Gujarat Titans?

It is noteworthy that Indians’ have made a total of three changes to their Playing XI for this match. Batter Tilak Varma, spinner Hrithik Shokeen and fast bowler Jofra Archer aren’t playing tonight to be replaced by spinner Kumar Kartikeya and fast bowlers Jason Behrendorff and Riley Meredith.

“Hrithik Shokeen misses out from the last game. Kumar Kartikeya is going to play. Jofra [Archer] is not well. Riley Meredith is back,” Sharma mentioned.

While Sharma didn’t talk about Archer’s illness in detail, it is worth mentioning that the Englishman isn’t missing an IPL 2023 match for the first time. In fact, the right-arm bowler has played only two out of MI’s first seven matches of the season. Varma, meanwhile, is almost certain of participating as an Impact Player in the second innings.

In his two outings, Archer dismissed a solitary batter in the eight overs that he’s bowled this season. Meredith, on the contrary, has picked five wickets at an average of 21.40, an economy rate of 9.17 and a strike rate of 14 across three matches.

As far as Titans are concerned, the hosts haven’t made any change to their Playing XI. Having lost their last two home matches, the defending champions would be keen to avoid a third consecutive defeat in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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