But if Archer is picked up by an IPL team, a scenario that seems likely given his status as one of the premier pacemen in the world, his route back to Test cricket looks harder.

Archer would have to prove his fitness in the County Championship for Sussex, but the early rounds of the season clash with the IPL.

If Archer does not play domestic red-ball cricket at the beginning of the summer, it harms his chances of returning in a home Test in 2025, and casts doubt on a potential role in next winter’s Ashes in Australia.

All of England’s centrally contracted players were permitted to enter the auction.

Archer would become the 38th English player in the auction, joining white-ball captain Jos Buttler and 42-year-old James Anderson.

Anderson, England’s all-time leading wicket-taker, has never played in an overseas franchise league.

Test captain Ben Stokes, Archer’s fellow fast bowler Mark Wood and batter Joe Root are all absent from the auction.