IPL Auction 2025: 42-year-old James Anderson regers for first time, last played T20 in 2014 | Cricket News

Among the top surprises in the longl of 1,574 players who regered for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auction was James Anderson, who has opted to enter the fray at the age of 42.
The veteran English pacer who retired from international cricket with 704 Test wickets in July, has regered his name in the IPL auction for the first time across 18 seasons.
Interestingly, Anderson has never competed in a global franchise T20 league, and his last T20 game was in 2014 for Lancashire. Overall, Anderson has only played 44 T20 matches, 19 of those in England colours, while picking up 41 wickets.
The 1574 players are vying for a total of 204 slots as each franchise can fill a maximum squad of 25 players. Of this, 1,165 cricketers are from India while there are also 409 overseas players in the mix. The longl will be further trimmed as per the choice of the ten franchises in the week leading up to the IPL 2025 auction in Jeddah, to be held on November 24 and 25.
Among the other 52 Englishmen signed up for the auction, Anderson will be accompanied pace ace Jofra Archer who is aiming for a return to the league after a rather unsuccessful stint with the Mumbai Indian was riddled with injuries. England Test captain Ben Stokes has also opted out of the auction this year. With the IPL’s new rule in effect, Stokes will also not be eligible to reger his name in the IPL 2026 auction after not ling himself in the mega-auction process.
The IPL also introduced a rule that meant overseas players signed up franchises who later pull out will be banned from the league for two years.
No English player was retained any of the ten franchises during the IPL 2025 Retentions on October 31. England white-ball captain and Rajasthan Royals opener Jos Buttler was l among the high-profile overseas releases.