Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Rajasthan Royals struggled mostly due to the absence of star fast bowler Jofra Archer. The Barbados-born fast bowler, who was in India with the England side aggravated his elbow injury and traveled back to the UK for treatment.
It was expected that Archer will join the franchise after a couple of games but his return got delayed and eventually was ruled out of the tournament. On top of that, Rajasthan also lost star all-rounder Ben Stokes to a freakish injury he copped during the first match of the tournament. Add to it a couple of more cricketers returning to their country due to the COVID-19 crisis. As a result, the Royals were left with only a handful of overseas cricketers and they struggled badly.
I feel hopeful to play the remainder of IPL 2021 – Jofra Archer
However, due to the resurgence of the deadly virus, BCCI decided to postpone the tournament. The decision could be a blessing in disguise for Rajasthan Royals as Jofra Archer has hinted to participate if IPL 2021 resumes sometime later this year. Archer returned to professional cricket when he played for the Sussex County Cricket Club in their championship match. On the first day of the first-class match against Kent, he picked two wickets.
“It’s terrible in India at the moment and to be honest if I did go to India, I probably would have been home early, anyway, but I think that’s just how it’s gone. I feel hopeful when if it does reschedule for this year, hopefully, I’ll be able to go again but it was a hard decision to not go to India,” Archer said in an interaction, uploaded by the Sussex club on their official Youtube channel.
Talking about Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer was not sure about the all-rounder’s participation considering England starts their Test series against New Zealand in a couple of weeks time. Archer further hinted that there is a possibility that Rajasthan Royals would want to retain him. The Jaipur-based franchise has several overseas stars but will be allowed to only retain three players ahead of the mega auction in 2022.
