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England pacer Jofra Archer has been added to the list for the IPL auction list. Just a few days ago, he wasn’t on the shortlist that was sent to the franchises last weekend. The inclusion of Archer to the list has been communicated to the franchises informally on Thursday. The two-day-long IPL mega auction is scheduled to take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on November 24.
The IPL has yet to make the news public, but it will be interesting for the franchises to see which set Archer falls into. Along with his England teammate Mark Wood, Archer was also among the key players who were not included in the shortlist of 574 players sent to the franchises by the IPL. His name not being there in that list also raised a lot of questions, as both the fast bowlers were part of the original list of IPL. Archer had set a maximum base price of Rs 2 crore for the auction.
Jofra Archer’s comeback in IPL 2025
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Jofra Archer and his representatives were holding talks with the ECB and the BCCI this week to clarify the implications if his name is not included in the shortlist. Archer has a central contract with the England Cricket Board (ECB), for which reason his workload is also taken care of by the ECB.
Archer has not played Test cricket since the beginning of 2021, but England hopes to play Tests against India and Australia next year. “Everything is going according to plan with Jofra. Can he play Tests next summer? All my fingers are crossed, probably yes,” England Cricket’s managing director Rob Key told the Sunday Times last week.
Spending April and May in the IPL will make life difficult for Archer as he could not participate for Sussex in the early stages of the County Championship. ECB had barred Archer from participating in the IPL auction last year as a measure to prevent him from rushing back from injury. However, if he was barred this year he would not be allowed to participate in the IPL till 2027.
In the auction cycle of this season, IPL has brought out new rules. These rules state that those players who had earlier been a part of the league but did not enlist in the mega-auction will not be permitted to enlist in the mini-auction of the next session. As per another rule, if a player is bought in the auction and without any valid reason withdraws his name from there, he will be banned from playing for two years.
The 29-year-old Archer made a comeback this year after a long injury layoff and took part in England’s white-ball series against Pakistan, Australia, and West Indies. He played all three ODIs on the recent Caribbean tour.
Mumbai Indians shelled out Rs 8 crore for Archer in the 2022 mega auction. But he was not match-fit to play that season. Archer played five matches for Mumbai Indians in 2023 and took two wickets.
Archer won the Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the last full IPL season he played (2020). He took 20 wickets from Rajasthan Royals in that season that was held in the UAE.
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