Thomas Draca became the first-ever cricketer from Italy to register for the Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction. The event is set to go down in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on November 24 and 25.
A total of 1,547 players (1,165 Indian and 409 overseas) registered for the much-anticipated IPL auction. Among them, 320 are capped, 1,224 are uncapped, and 30 players are from Associate Nations.
Draca made his T20I debut for Italy against Luxembourg in June 2024 in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Sub Regional Europe Qualifier Group A tournament. He featured in a total of four games and took eight wickets in the competition, with best figures of 3/9.
Thomas Draca represented the Brampton Wolves in the Global T20 Canada 2024. He was the leading bowler for the side with 11 wickets in six games as they qualified for the playoffs. He finished with his best figures of 3/10 against Bangla Tigers Mississauga, while taking wickets of Iftikhar Ahmed and David Wiese.
Due to his impressive performances in GT20, Draca was bought by MI Emirates in the ILT20 2025 auction in September. It will be interesting to see whether the right-arm pacer generates interest in the auction.
Thomas Draca will represent Italy in the ongoing ICC CWC Challenge B tournament. The side will kickstart their campaign on Thursday against Tanzania.
Players with base price of INR 2 Crore in IPL mega auction
A total of 23 Indian players have registered their names in the IPL 2025 mega auction with a base price of INR 2 crore. The trio of Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer headline the top players, who captained Delhi Capitals, Lucknow Super Giants and champion Kolkata Knight Riders, respectively last year.
Meanwhile, Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal, who were released from Rajasthan Royals will also be among the players, who are expected to strike a bidding war. Mohammed Shami, who has not played competitive cricket since the 2023 ODI World Cup also comes into the auction with a base price of INR 2 crore.
Indian players
Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami, 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.
Meanwhile, Mitchell Starc, who was the most expensive acquisition in IPL history last season, was released by the Kolkata Knight Riders, and will enter the auction with a base price of INR 2 crore. Jos Buttler, who was the top batter for the Rajasthan Royals in the last three-year cycle was also released by the franchise.
International players
Mitchell Starc, Steve Smith, Jofra Archer, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Adam Zampa, Moeen Ali, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Trent Boult, Matt Henry, Kane Williamson, Kagiso Rabada, David Warner
