James Anderson has mastered cricket. If you state this fact to someone, they’ll probably accept. But Anderson himself doesn’t think that. He feels his knowledge of the game can still improve. That’s why the pacer has registered himself for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction.
I have more to give as a player: Anderson
Anderson was more or less forced to retire, as he’s since revealed. It wasn’t his desire to hang up his boots, but the management clearly told him he wouldn’t be selected as they wanted to build a team for the Ashes 2025. So, with hunger still left inside, the 42-year-old wants to experience franchise cricket, as he’s hinted at before, which he wants to start by playing in the IPL.
“There is still definitely something in me that thinks like I can still play. I have never done the IPL; I have never experienced it, and I think for a number of reasons I feel like I have more to give as a player,” Anderson told BBC Radio 4 Today.
The pacer, who’s slowly involving himself as a mentor/coach, feels like playing in the IPL will help further down the line. For those unaware, Anderson has previously tried to enter the league back in 2012 but failed to receive any bids. It wasn’t shocking then, as the pacer had stopped playing T20Is in 2009, with his focus entirely on Test cricket.
“I have done a little bit of coaching since I have finished in the summer. I have been around the England team doing a bit of mentoring or whatever you like to call it. I just think opening my eyes to something like that and experiencing it, sort of might help me grow my knowledge of the game and help further down the line,” the pacer concluded.
IPL 2025 mega auction: Base prices
Rs 2 crore: 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, Umesh Yadav, Mitchell Starc, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Jonny Bairstow, Kagiso Rabada, Mark Wood, Gus Atkinson
Rs 1.25 crore: James Anderson
Rs 75 lakh: Sarfaraz Khan and Prithvi Shaw
