Jofra Archer is not playing for England in the first T20I against India despite being named in the squad for the five-match series. The Harry Brook-led team named their playing XI for the series opener, which is taking place on Wednesday (June 17), a day before the game, and their star pacer was not part of the line-up.
The two-time T20 World Cup champions have named two specialist pacers in Saqib Mahmood and Luke Wood, while there is also Sam Curran in the line-up as an all-rounder.
Why Is Jofra Archer Not Playing?
Archer has been rested by England, as there was only a one-day gap between the third Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge ending and the first game in Durham against India. He is expected to feature later in the series later after being named in the squad.
Archer has been in fine form as he won the England team’s Player of the Series (POTS) award in the Test series against New Zealand despite missing the first game. The ace pacer took 11 wickets in two games, which is the most by any English player in the series 2-1 defeat.
Meanwhile, he had a brilliant 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Rajasthan Royals (RR) with 25 wickets in 16 games. He was the third-highest wicket-taker in the tournament behind only Kagiso Rabada (29) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (28).
The second T20I is scheduled to take place on Saturday (July 4) at the Old Trafford Cricket Stadium in Manchester.
England Playing XI: Philip Salt, Jos Buttler(w), Harry Brook(c), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Saqib Mahmood, Adil Rashid, Luke Wood
India Playing XI:Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (Captain), Tilak Varma, Harshit Rana, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Varun CV