England fast bowler Jofra Archer has been added back to the final auction list days after his name did not feature in shortlist sent by IPL recently to franchises last weekend. ESPNcricinfo has learned that Archer's addition was informally confirmed to franchises on Thursday, three days before the two-day mega auction will start on November 24 in the in Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah.
While the IPL is yet to make the news public, the franchises will be interested to see the set which features Archer. Along with his England team-mate Mark Wood, Archer was among the notable absentees in the 574-player shortlist the IPL had sent to franchises. Their absence raised eyebrows considering both England quicks were part of the original longlist sent by IPL. Archer had set the maximum base price of INR 2 crore.
He will now be part of the first set of fast bowlers (Set 6) which currently has seven quicks and will come up for bidding on the first day.
ESPNcricinfo understands Archer and his representatives have been in discussions with the ECB and the BCCI this week, seeking clarification on the repercussions in the event that he was not part of the shortlist. Archer has a central contract with the ECB which runs until the end of September, giving them an element of control over his workload.
Archer has not played Test cricket since early 2021 but England remain hopeful that he will return to the format next year, when they face India at home and Australia away. "Everything is going exactly to plan for Jofra," managing director Rob Key told the Sunday Times last week. "Can he play Tests next summer? With all my fingers crossed, yes."
Spending April and May at the IPL would make that significantly harder for Archer, ruling out the possibility of him playing for Sussex in the early stages of the County Championship season. The ECB blocked Archer from entering last year's auction to avoid him rushing back from injury, but doing so this year would have left him unable to play in the tournament until 2027 at the earliest.
The IPL has introduced new regulations for this auction cycle, stipulating that players who have previously appeared in the league but do not register for a mega-auction would be unable to register for the subsequent mini-auction. A separate regulation says that a player who is signed at an auction and then withdraws without a legitimate reason will face a two-year ban.
Archer, 29, returned to action this summer following a long injury lay-off, featuring in England's white-ball series against Pakistan, Australia and West Indies as well as the T20 World Cup. His workload was closely managed by medical staff throughout, but he was able to play all three ODIs in the Caribbean earlier this month.
At the 2022 mega-auction, Mumbai Indians spent INR 8 crore (then USD 1.06m approx.) on Archer even though he had just undergone elbow surgery and was not fit to play that season. He played five games for MI in 2023, taking two wickets, before his season was ended prematurely by another elbow issue.
Archer was named MVP in his most recent full IPL season, taking 20 wickets for Rajasthan Royals in the 2020 edition which was held in the UAE. In total, he has taken 48 wickets in 40 appearances in his IPL career.
ESPNcricinfo has learned of two further updates to the auction shortlist: USA fast bowler Saurabh Netravalkar will be player No. 575 and Hardik Tamore, the Maharashtra wicketkeeper-batter, will be player 576.