The long list for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auctions to be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia features 1574 cricketers, including 1165 Indians.
While English legend James Anderson, who has registered for the tournament for the first time in 18 seasons, has become the news point but there was a little less-known Italian who also raised some curiosity.
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Italy is not a country known for its cricket but rather football. But surprisingly a 24-year-old Italy bowler is among the players who have registered for the IPL auctions. The right-arm medium pacer made his T20 debut for his national side in June this year and has taken eight wickets in four games.
It would be interesting to see if any side would like to rope in the inexperienced youngster (if he makes it to the final list) who was recently picked by the MI Emirates for the upcoming season of UAE’s ILT20. He has also had a stint with Brampton Wolves in Canada’s T20 league where he played under David Warner.
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 longlist 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.
Drace made his T20 debut for Italy in June this year. (X) 
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