Sussex have been dealt another heavy blow after Chris Jordan was given a late call-up to the IPL.

Jordan  missed out in the initial player auction for the competition but was signed by Royal Challengers Bangalore yesterday as a replacement for the injured Mitchell Starc.

Sussex have already been without the England all-rounder for their opening two County Championship matches as Jordan rested an elbow injury which flared up at the World Twenty20 but had hoped to welcome him back for Sunday’s home game against Leicestershire.

The 27-year-old all-rounder will now be unavailable for the next three Championship games as well as the opening match of the NatWest T20 Blast against Gloucestershire on May 20. Jordan could also miss the home Championship game against Derbyshire on May 28 if Bangalore reach the final and may not feature in four-day cricket until the clash with Kent at Tunbridge Wells on July 17 if he keeps his place in England’s 50-over and Twenty20 sides.

It is another big setback to Sussex’s hopes of making an instant return to division one having already been without skipper Luke Wright for the start of the season due to a wrist injury which required surgery last week.

Head coach Mark Davis said: “It is a great opportunity for Chris so we wish him well but obviously it is not ideal to lose one of our best players for a significant period of time.

“We knew something like this could have been on the cards because he showed at the World Twenty20 what a quality player he is. After that we were aware that he was likely to be the next in line if anybody got injured and unfortunately that is how it has panned out.

“On the positive side it will be a good experience for Chris and it should make him a better player when he comes back to us. It does not make things easy though as we had planned around him but we will just have to deal with it.”

Sussex had hoped to have Wright and Jordan back for the game against Leicestershire but it is growing increasingly likely they will have neither.

The operation to repair a burst vein and remove a blood clot from Wright’s wrist proved more serious than originally expected and Davis admits he is “possibly slightly doubtful” to play on Sunday.

Davis added: “Luke is doing well but we don’t know what the time scale is going to be for him. The injury was worse than we thought but that doesn’t necessarily mean he will be out for longer.”