England Test great James Anderson, Jofra Archer register for IPL 2025 auction; Ben Stokes missing: Reports
England Test legend James Anderson has reportedly registered for the IPL 2025 mega auction. He was nudged into retirement earlier this year and took up the role of bowling coach with the men's team.
According to ESPNcricinfo, Anderson has registered himself at a base price of ₹1.25 crore. The right-arm pacer has never played in the IPL and last played a T20 in 2014. He has played 44 T20s in total, picking 41 wickets at an average of 32.14.
Meanwhile, Anderson's last Test captain Ben Stokes, is missing from the list, confirming his non-participation from the tournament. Earlier, reports in English media had said he wanted to prioritize the country's packed Test season.
Their compatriot, Jofra Archer has also put his name for the auction at the maximum possible base price of ₹2 crore. Australia's Mitchell Starc has also put his name at the same base price. He was the most expensive player in IPL history for his ₹24.50 crore contract at Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) last year.
Among Indians, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, and Shreyas Iyer, the released IPL 2024 captains of Delhi Capitals, Lucknow Super Giants, and KKR, respectively are also listed at the highest base price. They'll be joined by internationals Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal.
Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh also register at ₹2 crore base price
The report mentioned the following as other Indians to have registered at the ₹2 crore base price: Arshdeep Singh, Ishan Kishan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar, Venkatesh Iyer, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar, Prasidh Krishna, T Natarajan, Devdutt Padikkal, Krunal Pandya, Harshal Patel, and Umesh Yadav.
It also revealed the name of the only Italian player to register for the tournament -- 24-year-old Thomas Draca who played for MI Emirates in the ILT20 in the UAE.
The IPL 2025 auction will take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on November 24-25.