Jofra Archer absent from 2025 IPL auction but James Anderson makes shortlist

Jofra Archer has not been included in a streamlined list for this month’s Indian Premier League auction while England team-mates Mark Wood, Chris Woakes and Joe Root are also absent.

It was confirmed England’s record Test wicket-taker James Anderson is on the final roster of 574 players who will go under the hammer on November 24 and 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The 41-year-old seamer has not featured in a T20 in a decade and last played in the format for England in November 2009 but he has stated he has more to offer after his international retirement in July.

A total of 1,000 players were cut from the initial entry list following discussions with the 10 franchises although it is unknown whether Archer excused himself or misses out at the IPL’s discretion.

The England and Wales Cricket Board declined to comment when contacted by the PA news agency.

Both Archer and fellow paceman Wood did not take part in the 2024 IPL after being withdrawn by the ECB as the centrally-contracted pair’s workloads were managed before the T20 World Cup.

Archer, the most valuable player at the 2020 IPL, featured in last year’s edition for Mumbai Indians but suffered a recurrence of an elbow injury in his bowling arm that has blighted his career.

The 29-year-old subsequently missed the Ashes and the 50-over World Cup but he has been on the comeback trail in recent months in T20s and ODIs and England remain hopeful he will return to Test cricket next summer.

The long-term aim for Archer and England is for him to be firing on all cylinders for the 2025-26 Ashes in Australia even though it has been more than three years since his last first-class appearance.

If Archer is to feature in a five-match Test series against India in England next summer then he will likely have to play some red-ball cricket with Sussex in the County Championship, whose early stages traditionally overlap with the IPL.

England Test captain Ben Stokes elected against putting himself forward, while two other players with IPL experience in Root and Woakes are also conspicuous from the shortlist. Under new rules, overseas players who did not enter this auction would be ineligible next year.

Jos Buttler, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Ben Duckett, Gus Atkinson and Ollie Pope are among the 37 England-qualified individuals who will be up for sale.

With each franchise able to have a maximum squad of 25 players, there are 204 spots to be filled at the auction.

A total of 46 players were retained by the 10 teams but none of them English, with England white-ball captain Buttler released after seven seasons with Rajasthan Royals.