Jofra Archer to play for Virat Kohli-starrer RCB in IPL 2024? Pacer practices in Bengaluru

England pacer Jofra Archer is in Bengaluru with his county side Sussex as he is attending a pre-season camp for his county side. He is practicing hard to be fit in time to play for England in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.

His presence in Bengaluru is linked with the possibility of him likely to play for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL. He went unsold in the auction and will not play for RCB in the upcoming edition of the IPL.

The reason for his arrival in Bengaluru is to be a part of a week-long camp with his county side to practice with the side in much friendlier weather conditions. The England pacer is currently out of the side due to his long-standing elbow injury.

Busy in Bengaluru. 🔥

— Sussex Cricket (@SussexCCC) March 13, 2024

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Jofra Archer Played For Mumbai Indians In IPL 2023

The same injury prevented him from participating in IPL 2022 for Mumbai Indians. He then played in IPL 2023 for MI but featured in just five games, picking up just two wickets.

Apart from Sussex, even Lancashire men’s and women’s teams are practicing in Bengaluru, as per media reports. They set up their base camp at the KSCA Alur facility on Tuesday. Both the men’s and women’s teams will play practice matches against Karnataka select teams during their 10-day stay.

Speaking about Archer, he had surgery on his elbow that ruled him out of the game last year. he is still recovering from his elbow injury after going through the surgery. He is monitored from close quarters by the ECB who are working hard on him to get fit ahead of the T20 World Cup in June.

“The ECB believes that it will be easier to manage Archer’s comeback if he is in the UK in April and May under its supervision than if he is in India on the books of an IPL team looking to get their money’s worth from him,” said reports in the Cricinfo.

“We take that bet with him that we want him back fit and able to play for England, because of the upside. You start looking at things like the Ashes in two years, the T20 World Cup Jofra adds so much to that,” he had said back then,” said Rob Key, the managing director of the England team on The English speedster.

The defending champions will commence their T20 World Cup campaign with a match against Scotland in Barbados on June 4, followed by encounters against arch-rivals Australia and Oman on June 8 and June 13, respectively.

Archer also missed the Test series against India. England dearly missed the pacer as the likes of Mark Wood and James Anderson had to do a lot of bowling in hot and humid conditions in India. Speaking about Archer’s career so far, the England pacer has played 13 Test matches and 21 ODI matches picking up 42 wickets each in the two formats. In 15 T20Is, he has played, he has picked up 18 wickets. He has picked up 48 wickets in 40 IPL games.

He played his last international match in March 2023 and has been out of the game since May 2023. Archer recently made his comeback to competitive cricket earlier this month, featuring in a second-division County Championship match.

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