Archer on course to return to action early next year

Exactly 85 players were released by the 10 Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises earlier this week and one of them was not Jofra Archer. The England pacer was a no show in the last IPL and has been out of action since July 2021 but Mumbai Indians, who gambled on him by picking in the last auction, stuck to the 27-year-old Barbados-born cricketer with a hope that he would be ready for the IPL 2023. Their gamble could be paying off.

Archer is inarguably a precious cricketer and it may be up to the ECB whether or not to allow Archer to take part in the highly-gruelling IPL but the word in the IPL is that Archer has already started bowling and would be fully ready by March, when the IPL is slated to kick off. Actually, Archer is on course to be back in action early next year.

"He is currently in the UAE with the England Lions team and is continuing his rehab. He is making excellent progress and the view is that he will be looking to play competitively again during the early part of 2023," a spokesman for the England Wales Cricket Board (ECB) told Cricbuzz on Friday (November 18).