The dates for the upcoming IPL mega auction are confirmed and so is the list of players heading into the auction. England’s star all-rounder and Test captain, Ben Stokes who previously played for Chennai Super Kings in the 2023 season, has opted to skip the season to manage his workload. 

Stokes’ stint in the Hundred competition was cut down considerably due to a hamstring injury. This injury forced him to miss Test matches for England during the summer and the first Test against Pakistan in October. His stint with CSK was also considerably short due to injury. 

England will be touring Australia next winter for the all-important Ashes which would have restricted Stokes’ presence in the 2025 IPL season. Also, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has issued a two-year ban for players who pull out of the season at the last minute which could have also played a part in Stokes’ decision. 

Among some notable names on the list, Mitchell Starc, who was not retained by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) but fetched a record INR 24.75 crore in the 2024 auction has put his name in the pool at a base price of INR 2 crore. Jofra Archer is also on the list at the same base price, the highest in the bracket, having skipped the 2024 season. He fetched INR 8 crore in the 2022 mega auction from Mumbai Indians but could play only five matches in the whole three-year cycle due to recurring injuries. Having made his England comeback this season, it would be interesting to see which franchises take a punt on him considering his history of injuries.

James Anderson is also a part of the list. The 42-year-old hasn’t played any T20 cricket since 2014 and any form of professional white-ball cricket since 2019. A Test legend, Anderson retired from the format earlier this year and has taken up the role of England’s fast bowling consultant post retirement. In a recent interview, Anderson mentioned he would like to test his luck in the IPL after drawing curtains on his international career. He has registered at a base price of INR 1.25 crore. 

READ HERE: Retained players and purse remaining for every franchise

The list also includes an Associate player from Italy. The 24-year-old medium pacer Thomas Draca has played for Brampton Wolves in Global League T20 in Canada and four T20Is for Italy. He has been part of the Mumbai Indians’ (MI) ecosystem, being picked by its sister franchise in the ILT20, ie, MI Emirates. 

In the Indian contingent, there will be 48 capped players and 965 uncapped players. 

The marquee Indian players include Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, captains of their respective franchises in the preceding auction cycle but were not retained due to various reasons. They are alongside Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal in the bracket of INR 2 crore base price. 

Mohammed Shami, the second-highest wicket-taker among Indian pacers in this 2022-24 cycle, has also listed himself at the INR 2 crore base price. Shami is currently recovering from injury. He hasn’t played any cricket since the 2023 World Cup final in November and is highly likely to miss the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy as well. 

Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar, Venkatesh Iyer, Avesh Khan, Ishan Kishan, Mukesh Kumar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Prasidh Krishna, T Natarajan, Devdutt Padikkal, Krunal Pandya, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj and Umesh Yadav are the other Indian players in the same base price bracket. 

Meanwhile, the Mumbai batters who previously played for Delhi Capitals, have listed themselves at INR 75 lakh. 

Each franchise has a budget of INR 120 crore and can have a maximum squad size of 25 players. Each franchise also has to ensure at least 18 players in the squad. Punjab Kings have the highest purse remaining at INR 110.5 crore while Rajasthan Royals will go in with the minimum budget at INR 41 crore. 

The mega auction will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on November 24 and 25, and will clash with the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test between India and Australia in Perth. 

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