A whopping 1574 cricketers, including 1165 Indians, have signed up for the mega auction ahead of the Indian Premier League 2025 that will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on November 24 and 25.

Former England pacer James Anderson highlights the list of players who are ready to go under the hammer. However, one more name that has caught everyone's attention is a player from Italy.

From the land known for its delicious Pizza and hardcore football fans, Italian cricketer Thomas Jack Draca is making headlines by entering his name for the upcoming Indian Premier League mega auction.

Who is Thomas Jack Draca?

The 24-year-old right-arm medium pacer secured the 325th slot in the auction list, just ahead of Canada’s Harsh Thaker.

Draca debuted for Italy in T20Is against Luxembourg on June 9, 2024, taking eight wickets across his four matches. Even though he is not a household name in the cricketing circles, Draka has experience in high-profile T20 leagues.

He has represented the MI Emirates in the UAE’s ILT20 and the Brampton Wolves in Canada's T20 league.

With a mix of local and international experience, Draca’s is considered a wildcard in the auction. His experience of playing in the different T20 leagues may appeal to franchises who are looking for fresh faces in the bowling department.

About IPL 2025 Mega auction

South Africa have the largest players’ pool in the auction with 91, followed by Australia with 76 players in the IPL mega auction 2025. There are 52 cricketers from England and 39 from New Zealand while West Indies (33) and Afghanistan (29) and Sri Lanka (29) follow in the list.

The Associates make their presence felt through USA (10), Netherlands (12), Canada (4), Italy (1), UAE (1) and Scotland (2).

The 10 franchises will collectively have around ₹641.5 crore to spend for the available 204 slots. Out of those 204 slots, 70 are earmarked for overseas players.

As of now, 46 players have been retained by the 10 franchises with cumulative expenditure of ₹558.5 crore.