Archer had returned to England's white-ball set-up after a length layoff
Jofra Archer, as it seems, will soon be donning the England whites after a long wait of four years and four months when India visit them for a five-match series starting June 22.
The 30-year-old was not named in the white-ball squads for the Three Lions’ series against West Indies. Archer made a comeback to white-ball cricket in May last year after an injury layoff of 382 days due to recurring injuries that threatened to end his career.
The 2019 ODI World Cup winner had communicated his interest to play red-ball cricket which was relayed to the media by Test captain Ben Stokes.
“The best thing is he is back on the field playing. I am sure he might have thought he might not have the chance to put on an England shirt again and the injuries and surgeries he has gone through could have ended other people’s careers so there is no rushing back for anything for Jofra,” Stokes had said when England announced their central contracts for the 2024-25 season in October last year.
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England men’s cricket director Rob Key echoed the sentiment a few months later while feeling that it would be wise for the fast-bowling phenomenon to miss Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 entirely in order to prepare for India Tests by playing in the County Championship for Sussex.
“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,” Key had told Wisden Cricket Weekly in December.
But the conversation had happened much before the IPL 2025 auction in November where Archer was bought by Rajasthan Royals for INR 12.5 crore. His return to the IPL was a humdinger as he recorded the worst bowling figures in IPL history by going for 76 runs in his four overs in RR’s season opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
That seemed like a flash in the pan for the bowler who started finding his rhythm and searing pace as the tournament went on. Though he took a beating in few more matches, Archer consistently hit the 145-plus mark and was able to bowl bouncers that whistled past the batters’ ears.
Since the nightmare against SRH, Archer has bowled 41 overs from 11 matches, claimed 11 wickets at an economy of 8.55.
His bowling lines started getting better in the IPL 2025, a farcry from his underwhelming spells on the same pitches in the white-ball series against India in January and February.
Even he returns to the Test squad, the England and Wales Cricket Board will be cautious about putting too much burden on him as Key had hinted that Archer can play one or two Tests against India.
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