The England premier fast bowler, Jofra Archer, has recently started to make slow progress in his international career, as he was part of the home ODI and T20I series against Australia and faced West Indies in the Caribbean for both the white-ball formats of the game. The England Cricket Board (ECB) is managing the pacer in a better shape by giving him breaks in between the games.
Even when Jofra Archer was part of the Hundred 2024, the captain of his franchise, Southern Brave, James Vince, didn’t like the whole scenario of resting his top-class bowler at some point in a week to give him the space, as directed by the ECB and their board management.
That was the first 100-ball season for the Barbados-born, where he picked up nine wickets in eight innings at an average of 25.33 and an economy rate of 8.55, with the best of 2/18 in the 25-ball set. The biggest aim for the England board is to make his return to the longest format of the game.
Jofra Archer hasn’t been considered for the upcoming three-match red-ball series in New Zealand, starting next week, as the last Test match for the pacer came more than three years ago against India at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. In just 13 games, the bowler has picked up 42 wickets at an average of 31.04 and a strike rate of 62.1 with the help of three five-wicket hauls.
Jofra Archer throws his name in the ring of the IPL 2025 mega-auction
The best possible chance for the management to make the return of the pacer could be the upcoming home series of five Tests against India or the biggest series in their calendar, the away Ashes in Australia, by the end of next year.
Keeping the entire picture in mind, the 29-year-old, at the initial stage, decided to keep himself away from the upcoming mega auction of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 but has finally decided to put his name in the bidding war. That could possibly have come on the back of the rule where a player won’t be allowed to come for the mini-auction in the case they don’t offer themselves in the mega-auction.
In 155 innings in the shortest format Jofra Archer has featured, he has grabbed 197 scalps at an average of 22.78 and a strike rate of under 18 with an economy rate of 7.71 thanks to the best of 4/18. He was picked by the Mumbai Indians in the IPL during the 2022 season, but he didn’t turn up.
Later, when he did in 2023, the veteran played five fixtures and picked up just two wickets at an average of 95 and an economy rate of 9.50. In overall 40 encounters, the pacer collected 48 IPL scalps at an average of below 25 and an economy rate of 7.43.
Also Read: Revealed: Why Jofra Archer Is Skipping IPL 2025 Mega Auction?
The reports have claimed that, initially, both he and his teammate Mark Wood didn’t receive the no objection certificate (NOC) to participate in the IPL 2025 mega auction, but once the former was granted the NOC, he decided to through his name in the ring.
“Mark Wood and Jofra Archer were on the initial longlist for the auction but then weren’t on the shortlist, and it turns out by the sounds of it that the ECB has denied them NOCs. am hearing some negotiations are going on right now between the BCCI, the ECB, and the agents.” The cricket broadcaster Matt Kabir Floyd expressed on the show, ‘It’s Not Just Cricket.’
The mega auction will take place on November 24 and 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.