During the Indian Premier League, most international cricket comes to a halt as major teams, including Australia, England, West Indies, and South Africa, have their star players participating in the league. For two months, the T20 carnival takes center stage in India. However, some players choose to skip the IPL to focus on their future international commitments.
The England Test season begins immediately after the IPL, and there have been instances where England’s Test-bound players had to pull out of the IPL playoffs to prepare. Amid this, former England cricketer Robert Key has advised a star England cricketer to skip the entire IPL 2025 season.
Robert Key’s advice to Jofra Archer
Key suggested this to speedster Jofra Archer, who was bought by the Rajasthan Royals for ₹12.50 crore. With England’s summer Test season set to start right after the IPL, Robert Key has recommended that Archer prioritize playing in the County Championship over the IPL to prepare for the upcoming Test matches.
“The best thing might be to miss the IPL this year and get yourself ready, and we’ll start building your loads up… if you can get through a bit of Championship cricket, and then you can start the Test summer. He was happy with that. But we had to look and see what India were going to do with [the IPL’s rules]. We thought that we could make the case that he’s still in part of a managed workload period,” Robert Key told Wisdon Cricket.
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Archer Will Face a Ban If He Listens to Robert Key’s Advice
Jofra Archer follows Robert Key’s advice, he will not only lose ₹12.50 crore but also put his IPL career in jeopardy. According to the new IPL rules, if a player withdraws from the league after being bought at the auction, they will face a ban from the IPL for the next two seasons. This rule was implemented because some overseas players used to withdraw from the IPL season after being bought for a lower price, which disrupted the balance of the teams.
