James Anderson tops IPL 2025 auction list with no sign of Ben Stokes; Pant, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer demand highest base price

As per a report on ESPNCricinfo, renowned Indian cricketers Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, and Shreyas Iyer, who previously led Delhi Capitals, Lucknow Super Giants, and Kolkata Knight Riders, respectively, have put themselves up for auction with a base price of INR 2 crore. Joining them are experienced players Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal, who represented Rajasthan Royals in the last season.

Mohammed Shami, who has not played competitive cricket since the 2023 ODI World Cup final as he continues to recover from his ankle injury with no confirmation yet on his potential return date, also listed himself in the 2-crore list. Other Indian players include - haleel 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.

Among notable overseas players in the 2-crore category are former Kolkata Knight Riders bowler Mitchell Starc, who was roped in for a whopping INR 24.50 crore in the last IPL auction, and England's Jofra Archer, who last played an IPL match for Mumbai Indians in 2023. Meanwhile, England red-ball captain Ben Stokes opted out of the next IPL season.

Punjab Kings will be heading into the two-day mega event on the back of a highest auction purse of INR 110.5 crore, having retained only two uncapped players. They are followed by Royal Challengers Bengaluru (INR 83 crore), Delhi Capitals (INR 73 crore), Gujarat Titans (INR 69 crore), Lucknow Super Giants (INR 69 crore) Chennai Super Kings (INR 55 crore), Kolkata Knight Riders (INR 51 crore), Mumbai Indians (INR 45 crore), Sunrisers Hyderabad (INR 45 crore), Rajasthan Royals (INR 41 crore).

The auction list comprises 1574 cricketers. Of the total players, 320 are capped players, 1,224 uncapped players and 30 players from the Associate Nations. 1165 of the total players are Indians, comprising 48 capped and 965 uncapped, while 409 players are overseas. Each franchise will be able to form a maximum squad of 25 players (including respective retained players), and a total of 204 slots will be up for grabs from the auction.