After playing a vital role in England’s resounding win over India in the first T20I, speedster Jofra Archer said he needs to look after his troublesome elbow considering the upcoming marquee events like the T20 World Cup 2021 and the Ashes Down Under.
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Jofra, who missed two Tests in England's 1-3 series defeat against India, returned with the bowling figures of 3 for 23 as the visitors restricted the hosts to a modest 124/7 in the T20I series opener at Ahmedabad on Friday (March 12).
"I need to take care of my elbow first before I think about what is going to happen," Archer said in the post-match press conference.
"For me, in the immediate, I want to get through this series and then I will do everything in my power to make sure I'm going to the World Cup and the Ashes."
KL Rahul (1), Hardik Pandya (19) and Shardul Thakur (0) were victims of Jofra in the match, which England won by 8 wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the five-T20I series.
"I'm just glad to have helped in the win. I'm just being honest, if I get one wicket or three, the way I bowl doesn't change. I think wickets just depend on how lucky you are at the time," Archer said.
He further added that they all are on the same page as far as the workload management is concerned.
"Obviously, I came to them (the medical team) during the Test series and said it's (my elbow) was not feeling right at the moment and I didn't have to say it twice, they automatically jumped on it and already started making plans. We are all on the same page."
According to Jofra, England can't get too ahead of themselves after winning the first game as India are the second-ranked T20I team.
"It's just the first game of the series, there are still four other games to go. They (India) are number two in the world for a reason so I don't think we can get ahead of ourselves as yet. It was a good win and we'll enjoy it," he said.
England skipper Eoin Morgan’s strategy of handing the new ball to leg-spinner Adil Rashid worked as he dismissed the Indian captain Virat Kohli for a five-ball duck.
It was Kohli’s second consecutive duck in international cricket and his third duck in the last five innings across all formats.
"You just love to see it when a plan comes off. Rashid is a world-class bowler and can bowl anywhere...," Archer said.
"Kohli is obviously a dangerous batter and to see the back of him early so many times is a real bonus. I think it probably might have dampened their camp a little bit," he further remarked.
Archer felt winning the toss gave them a bit of an advantage in the opening T20I.
"I was excited to bowl first because there was a bit of dew when we trained the other night. But getting on top of the conditions gave us a little bit of an advantage. It was a very good team performance on a slow wicket," he concluded.
(With PTI inputs)
