Why was Jofra Archer allowed to enter IPL 2025 auction? Rob Key explains

Why was Jofra Archer allowed to enter IPL 2025 auction? Rob Key explains

England’s managing director Rob Key revealed the reason why Jofra Archer was allowed to enter the IPL 2025 mega auction. 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, 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. Speaking to Wisden Cricket, Key said that they had advised Archer to miss the IPL and focus on the County championship.

“Jofra is always brilliant to deal with,” Key said, in an interview on Wisden Cricket Weekly’s Patreon channel. “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”Jofra Archer

Why was Jofra Archer allowed to enter IPL 2025 auction? Rob Key explains

However, Key said that the new IPL rules would have meant that Archer wouldn’t have been eligible to take part in the mini-auction. The England managing director said that they didn’t want Archer to miss out on the payday in the end.

T20s in the West Indies

“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. The problem with that was he was then bowling with two slips and a gully and bowling 90mph in the T20s in the West Indies, so it’s hard to make the case that he’s injured when he’s bowling like that.”

“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. You say, ‘Jof, what do you want to do? This is your career, your life. You’ll still be able to play Test cricket.’Jofra Archer

Key said that while Archer maybe a bit behind on the schedule when it comes to the Test cricket schedule, the pacer felt the best thing was to enter the auction.

“We believe there’s a lot of water to go under the bridge for that, but we still think he’ll be alright. We’ll just be a couple of months behind… 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,” said Key.Jofra ArcherMahaparinirvan Diwas: Holiday In Maharashtra Today? Special Trains, Traffic Curbs In Place | Details Inside

Why was Jofra Archer allowed to enter IPL 2025 auction? Rob Key explains

 

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