Italy’s first cricketer to be auctioned in IPL Mega Auction, has a special connection with Mumbai Indians

Rahul Tiwari

khelja|06-11-2024

After the picture of IPL retention is clear, now it remains to be seen which player becomes a part of which team for the next season. This will also become clear on 24 and 25 November when the mega auction of IPL 2025 will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. BCCI announced this on 5th October and now the countdown of this mega auction has started. This time the auction is going to be very special because big names like Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul will also be auctioned. Now everyone's eyes will be on these big players but there will also be curiosity about a player named Thomas Jack Dreka because he will be the first Italian cricketer to participate in the IPL auction.

BCCI on Tuesday not only announced the venue and dates of the big IPL auction but also informed how many players have registered this time. Besides, information about how many players from which countries are participating has also been given. Overall, after the end of the registration deadline on November 4, 1574 players are trying their luck this time, while only a maximum of 204 players will be able to be a part of the next season through this auction.

Who is Thomas Jack Draka?

Obviously, teams like Australia, South Africa, England, West Indies, New Zealand will have more players but in the details released by IPL, the name of Italy attracted the most attention. For the first time a player from Italy will be part of the auction. Now, cricket does not have any special identity in Italy, which is famous for sports like football and motorsport, so it is natural to wonder which player from here is coming to the IPL auction. For the first time, everyone must have noticed former Australian batsman Joe Burns, who joined the Italian team a few months ago and has played some big innings but he is not a part of the auction.

According to the report of Sportstar, this Italian player is Thomas Jack Dreka, who is a right-arm fast bowler. This 24-year-old player made his T20 debut for Italy this year and since then has taken 8 wickets in 4 T20 matches. Draka has also got experience of franchise cricket and has played in Canada's Global T20 League. Playing for Brampton Wolves in this league, Dreka took 11 wickets in 6 matches this season and was jointly second.

This is a special connection with MI

Draka has worked on his fast bowling skills at the Power Pace Cricket Academy in Australia. Now the question is why suddenly Dreka decided to participate in the IPL auction? One reason for this can also be considered to be Mumbai Indians, who have connections with DRACA. Actually, this Italian fast bowler has joined MI Emirates in UAE's T20 league ILT20. MI Emirates has bought Draka for the upcoming season of the league. Now if the franchise has bought him in a league then it is likely that Dreka would have registered for the IPL auction only at the behest of MI.

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