Jofra Archer who is making a comeback to the England side where ECB have monitored his workload carefully is going to play in IPL 2025 for Rajasthan Royals (RR). Jofra Archer recently played against white ball assignments against West Indies & Australia and had shown signs of improvement as his back injury has been troubling him a lot.
Jofra Archer, who had missed the 2024 season, wasn’t initially part of the auction shortlist that was released. However, a few days before the auction, Jofra Archer was included in the list and was able to land a big deal as he went back to Rajasthan Royals. The pacer has been slowly being build-up by England as they prepare him for the Test assignments against India at home and the Ashes in Australia next year.
Jofra Archer topsy turvy career in international career
One of the biggest assets for England is the return of Jofra Archer. The 29-year-old’s career until now has been plagued by injuries; he made his return to the T20 World Cup after overcoming an elbow injury that kept him out for almost a year. In his return for the Three Lions, Jofra Archer took ten scalps across eight matches. However, despite his return, he is missing out on the series as England management has decided to stick with their cautious and steady approach to introducing him back into the red-ball set-up.
Jofra Archer starred for England at the recent T20 World Cup, picking up ten wickets at an average of 19 as Jos Buttler’s side were knocked out in the semi-finals by eventual winners India. However, England have said he will not make his Test return until 2025. England Test captain Ben Stokes has stated Jofra Archer’s unbridled desire to wear the white jersey again for the national team. Speaking to Wisden Cricket, Rob Key said that they had advised Archer to miss the IPL and focus on the County championship.
ECB’s managing director Rob Key reacts to Jofra Archer’s decision to return to IPL 2025
England men’s cricket’s managing director Robert Key recently revealed that he had advised Jofra Archer to skip the IPL to play County Championship matches ahead of the Test season. However, the former middle-order batter also stated that he didn’t mind Archer playing in the IPL to get some overs under his belt.
The 29-year-old was initially not part of the auction but entered later. The Rajasthan Royals secured his services for a hefty amount of ₹12.50 crore; the right-arm speedster will feature in the cash-rich league for the first time since the 2023 edition when he played for the Mumbai Indians.
Speaking to Wisden Cricket Weekly’s Patreon channel, Key claimed that Archer was happy to play the County Championship matches.
“Jofra is always brilliant to deal with,” he said. “We were like, ‘The best thing might be to miss the IPL this year and get yourself ready, and we’ll start building your loads up… if you can get through a bit of Championship cricket, and then you can start the Test summer. He was happy with that. But we had to look and see what India were going to do with [the IPL’s rules]. We thought that we could make the case that he’s still in part of a managed workload period.”
However, the 45-year-old acknowledged that he didn’t want Archer to forgo the significant amount he can earn in the IPL.
“They [the BCCI] came back after a bit of back-and-forth and said, ‘Well no, he won’t be allowed to go into this year, next year from then on. So then you start thinking that could be about $4 million that he loses out on there, and I don’t then feel… then it’s on him, really.
So then Jofra decided that he felt the best thing for him was to go into the IPL [auction], which we had no issue with, and then do that loading throughout the IPL and get himself ready for the Test series that way.”
Jofra Archer made his international comeback in the T20I series against Pakistan before the World Cup this year, playing for the first time since March 2023.
“He’s got to be able to show that he can sustain it through a whole four-day game” – Robert Key on Jofra Archer
While Key believes Jofra Archer has the potential to be one of England’s best ever, he underlined the need to sustain his fitness for longer periods of time.
“The plan is that he’ll be ready to play. He was only ever going to play one or two Tests this summer, probably – at a push, three. He’s also got to get in the team now. I think he could be one of the best bowlers we’ve had, but he’s got to find form. He’s got to be able to show that he can sustain it through a whole four-day game,” Key said (as per the aforementioned source).
Jofra Archer is likely to tour India for England’s white-ball series. Jofra Archer was eventually sold at the auction for Rs. 12.5 Crore.