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Rajasthan Royals and England pacer Jofra Archer is seemingly unbothered by all the criticism he has faced for skipping the England vs New Zealand Tests to play in IPL 2026 instead. According to RR’s assistant coach, Archer has paid a deaf ear to all the criticism and is evidently happy to live with it rather than return from the IPL.
Archer was criticised by several former England legends for his decision to stay at the IPL. He was not picked in England’s squad to face New Zealand in the first match of their series, which starts on June 4 at Lord’s. The official reason cited was his workload management, as Jofra Archer has a history of struggling with injuries.
Vaughan, Atherton, Butcher among Archer’s critics
Former England players Michael Vaughan, Michael Atherton, and Mark Butcher all slammed Jofra Archer for prioritising the IPL over playing Test cricket for England.
“I’m sure he’ll be in the squad (for the second Test). It comes midway through June. I think we have a problem in English cricket at the moment because Jofra was obviously staying for the full IPL. There’s some contract that the ECB have done with the BCCI that’s allowing all our players to stay for the duration,” Vaughan told Cricbuzz.
“If that’s the case, I have a problem with England’s contracts because Jofra has been looked after by them for a few years now on a very handsome contract. So who holds the key to that? I believe the international contract outweighs any franchise,” Vaughan added.
Mark Butcher was more blunt in his criticism of both Archer and the England and Wales Cricket Board. “It baffles me. It really does,” Butcher said on the Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast. “Managing a workload.”
“I mean, the problem is that it should be the other way around. He should be pulled out of IPL games rather than you being rested from your main employer to go and play in a tournament overseas. I don’t get it, I don’t think I ever will.”
“What’s the point of giving someone a two-year contract then allowing them not to honour that contract by [not] playing for you but playing for somebody else? I find it absolutely ridiculous that you could be rested from an England Test match because you’ve been playing in the IPL,” he added.
Michael Atherton, on the other hand, seemed more sympathetic when he spoke on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast. “First of all, I can understand why he’d need to get his loads up,” said Atherton. “He’s been playing IPL… white-ball cricket, four overs a game. So, loads for a Test match that’s coming up very quickly, given that the IPL runs basically up to the first Test… I completely understand that.”
“But, I find it incredibly frustrating, and I’m sure England supporters do as well, because you’ve got central contracts there. The point of the central contract is to kind of arrange and manipulate a player’s workload so that you are right and ready and bang on ready to go for England,” he added.
It doesn’t matter to him- RR Assistant Coach on criticism faced by Jofra Archer
Ahead of the Rajasthan Royals’ final league stage match of IPL 2026, Assistant Coach Trevor Penny spoke to reporters in Mumbai, where RR will play the Mumbai Indians on Sunday. Penny said that Jofra Archer himself was least bothered about such things, and if he had to ruffle feathers in England to get the job done in the IPL, he didn’t mind it.
“It doesn’t matter to him, if you stay back here, you annoy people in England, and if u go back, you are in danger of never playing in the IPL again, so be it,” Penny told reporters when questioned about the criticism of Jofra Archer from Atherton et al.
Ahead of the 2025 season, the BCCI introduced a new rule stating that overseas players who pull out from the IPL before the season for reasons other than injury would face a two-year ban from the competition.
Jofra Archer in IPL 2026 and Rajasthan Royals qualification scenario
Jofra Archer is currently RR’s highest wicket-taker in IPL 2026 with 18 wickets in 13 matches. He has bowled at an average of 24.38 and an economy rate of around nine runs an over.
On Sunday, RR will again turn to Jofra Archer to reliably put them in the IPL 2026 playoffs. The equation for RR is extremely simple. Of the four teams that are neither officially qualified nor officially eliminated from IPL 2026, RR is the only one with its fate in its own hands.
If RR beat MI on Sunday, they will be through. But if they lose, they will need to depend on other results to make it, including Saturday’s when the Punjab Kings take on the Lucknow Super Giants
Also Read: Gujarat Titans shocked as Tom Banton returns to action soon after IPL 2026 pullout
