Jofra Archer out from first half of IPL 2021 due to injury

Rajasthan Royals’ speed bowler Jofra Archer is set to miss at least the first half of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 due to elbow injury, which also ruled him out of the One-Day Internationals in India. Earlier, ECB has confirmed that Archer’s elbow injury has become a growing concern and decided to send him back home from India as “he has been deemed unfit for selection for the ODI series”.

“Jofra Archer is returning to the UK for further management and investigation of his right elbow injury,” ECB said while announcing squad for the cricket match. “Archer’s elbow issue has deteriorated over the course of the Twenty20 International series and made it increasingly challenging for him to maintain performance levels.

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“The ECB medical team will assess the player and, together with Jofra, develop a treatment plan and a return-to-play schedule in due course. As a consequence, Jofra will miss the start of this year’s IPL,” the statement added. Archer missed the final Test against India with the injury but returned for the T20 series claiming a career-best 4-33 in the fourth match in Ahmedabad.

It is learnt that Archer, who has an ECB central contract to play in all three formats, is going to be administered one more injection in his right elbow before being assessed by the ECB medical staff around mid-April, the window for the cash-rich tournament in India. Archer was bought by the Royals in the 2018 auction for INR 7.2 cr. He was retained by RR after being IPL’s most valuable player last season.

When asked about his plans for the rest of the year, Archer pledged after the first T20I to “do everything in my power to make sure that I am going to the World Cup and the Ashes”. He is expected to play a key role for England at the Twenty20 World Cup in India in October-November and the subsequent Ashes series against Australia.

“Managing yourself is going to become more important than ever to make sure that you’re still fit or fully fit when that time comes,” Archer said in an in-house interview. England are yet to name their squad for the ODI series, which starts on Tuesday, March 23 in Pune, but have not flown any players out to India since the start of the T20Is.

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