The Indian Premier League (IPL) governing council has reinstated English pacer Jofra Archer in the list for the mega auction after the player's name was missing from the list sent to the franchises, a report said. Just three days before the two-day mega auction for IPL 2025 to be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and a few days after the list of players in the auction pool was published, it was officially confirmed to the franchises that Jofra Archer will also be available for the auction, a report in ESPNcricinfo claimed on Thursday.
While the IPL governing body and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are yet to officially confirm the news, ESPNcricinfo reported that Archer has been included in the pool and the franchises will be interested to see the set with the England pacer. . Archer has set itself a base price of Rs 2 crore.
Archer, who has been struggling with injuries of late, along with his England teammate Mark Wood were among the prominent names absent from the shortlist of 574 players that the IPL had sent to the franchises.
ESPNcricinfo understands that Archer and his representatives have been in talks with the ECB and the BCCI this week, seeking clarification on the consequences in the event he was not part of the shortlist. Archer has a central contract with the ECB running until the end of September, which gave them an element of control over his workload,” the report said.
Archer has not played Test cricket since 2021, but the England squad is confident he will return to action early next year. Although Rob Keys had told the Sunday Times that he has his fingers crossed as to whether Archer would be able to play Test cricket next summer, the pacer's decision to play IPL in April-May makes it difficult for the pacer to play domestic red ball cricket to play for Sussex. which could have paved the way for his return to the longer first of the game.
The England Cricket Board (ECB) is in a difficult situation as if Archer's participation in IPL 2025 is blocked, as in the previous edition, he would not be able to participate in the mini-auction next year as per the new rules .
The IPL has introduced new rules for this auction cycle, stating that players who have previously played in the league but do not register for a mega-auction will not be able to register for the subsequent mini-auction. A separate regulation stipulates that a player who is signed at auction and then withdraws without legitimate reason will receive a two-year ban.
These new rules appear to have played a role in 29-year-old Archer, who returned to white-ball cricket during the recent series against Pakistan, deciding to enter the auction fray.
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