ECB RULES JOFRA OUT OF IPL; NATARAJAN TO UNDERGO KNEE SURGERY

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on Friday informed that pacer Jofra Archer will miss the ongoing 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Archer plays for Rajasthan Royals and was initially expected to miss the first half of the IPL due to the injury.

“The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has confirmed that England and Sussex bowler Jofra Archer will not play in the 2021 Indian Premier League,” ECB said in a statement.

Archer will return to full training with Sussex from next week.

“Archer returned to bowling this week with higher intensity, and the ECB and Sussex medical teams will continue to monitor his progress. Archer will now step up his training regime starting next week and will be in full training with Sussex. It is expected that he will return to cricket in the next fortnight if he can continue to bowl and prepare pain-free,” it added.

Earlier, the pacer was given the clearance by his consultant to resume training as his right hand continued to heal following an operation on March 29. ““It is hoped that he will be able to up his intensity with his bowling from next week. A further update on his elbow injury will be provided once he has returned to bowling to assess the effectiveness of his recent injection,” ECB had said in an official statement.

“No decision has been made as yet on when Archer is due to return to play,” it had added. Archer had suffered a cut to his hand while cleaning at his home in January before flying to India to prepare for Test series.

Meanwhile, SunRisers Hyderabad pacer T. Natarajan on Friday said that he will undergo a knee surgery and will miss being a part of the remaining games of the 14th edition of the IPL.

“I’m sad to miss the remaining games this season. Since I played well last season and went on to play for India, my expectations were high. Unfortunately, I have to undergo knee surgery and will miss this season. Thank you to SRH family and players. I’m going to miss the SRH family this season. I have no words to say right now. I wish SunRisers go out and win every game. Best wishes,” the pacer said in a video posted on SRH’s official Twitter handle. “Natarajan has been ruled out of tournament due to injury and we along with entire squad wish him a speedy recovery,” SRH captioned .