Jofra Archer's England career is probably finished, says Kevin Pietersen

Jofra Archer had just returned to full-time cricket after almost 2 years on the sidelines.

Former England captain Kevin Pietersen has predicted that pacer Jofra Archer’s England career might have come to an end after the latest setback of his elbow injury ruling him out of the rest of the cricketing summer.

The express pacer made his comeback to international cricket after almost two years in January this year. However, he could feature in four ODIs, three T20Is, and five IPL games only.

In his five games for the Mumbai Indians during the IPL 2023 season, Jofra Archer bowled his allotted overs, picked quite a few wickets, and allowed 9.5 runs per over. He took a flight to Belgium in the interim to see a doctor about his elbow problems, and even though he returned and played one more game for MI, he was ruled out of the tournament and returned home.

The ECB verified a recurrence of the stress fracture in his right elbow, and now it's official that he won't play in any of this summer's Ashes matches, which begin at Edgbaston on June 16 and end at the Kia Oval six weeks later.

Archer is now set to undergo rehabilitation with the England and Sussex medical teams, who will work on his injury management.

I think this will probably end his journey with English cricket: Kevin Pietersen on Jofra Archer

Former England captain Kevin Pietersen has opined that Archer's England career and suggested that he should accept lucrative franchise contracts on offer.

According to a recent article in Times London, six of the top English cricketers would receive multi-million-dollar contracts of Rs 50 crores apiece from IPL teams, forcing them to forego their international careers in favor of playing in T20 leagues all year long.

Another source stated that Archer would receive a one-year contract from Mumbai Indians (MI), allowing him to play for MI clubs all over the world. In the SA20, Archer already sports the MI Cape Town jersey.

"I'm gutted for Jofra. Absolutely gutted. I think this will probably end his journey with English cricket," Pietersen wrote in his blog for Betaway.

"I know that there are reports around a franchise contract, and that would be the smartest thing for him to do now. Take six months to recover, select a few tournaments to play, and bowl at the speed of light for a few months of the year. He would earn good money and still have a career in the game.

I think the longer form of the game has passed him by. I think English cricket has probably passed him by. It's no fault of his own, he's just injury prone. As much as he would love to play for England because I know that's his dream, it's probably finished," Pietersen added.

"He should now just go and cash in as much as he can in franchise cricket. But first of all, get himself fit," Pietersen concluded.

It remains to be seen whether Archer is able to emerge out of this injury cloud unhurt.