5 IPL 2025 bound players to watch out for in BBL 2024-25 ft. Jamie Overton

The 2024-25 edition of the KFC Big Bash League, Australia's premier franchise cricket tournament, will get underway on Sunday, December 15. The Perth Scorchers will take on the Melbourne Stars at the Perth Stadium on the opening day. A lot of exciting cricketing action is bound to get underway as the tournament progresses.

Several players who are participating in the BBL have also been snapped up by franchises in the Indian Premier League in the mega auction held in November in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. These hopefuls will wish to impress their respective franchises ahead of the cash-rich tournament and also get into some form.

In this listicle, we take a look at five players in the BBL who will also participate in IPL 2025.

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#1 Jamie Overton (Adelaide Strikers)

Jamie Overton is among the first players to watch out for in this edition of the BBL. The English all-rounder will turn out for the Adelaide Strikers in Australia while in the IPL, he was snapped up by the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for his base price of INR 1.5 crores. The 30-year-old has played one Test, two ODIs and seven T20Is for England.

CSK will wish to utilize the 6ft 5inch-tall player's abilities with both bat and ball in hand. He is a more than handy all-rounder and is known to be an interesting prospect in the shortest format of the game. He picked up 16 wickets for the Strikers in last season's BBL, and will aim for more in this campaign.

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#2 Sherfane Rutherford (Sydney Thunder)

The West Indies' batter is enjoying a good run of form in one-day cricket against Bangladesh at home. He will turn up for the Sydney Thunder in the BBL and aim to recreate the form and entertain his supporters.

Rutherford will turn out for the Gujarat Titans in the 2025 edition of the IPL and aim to impress the home supporters at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The pitch in Ahmedabad may be a tad slow, and strokemaking will not be easy.

However, men from the Caribbean like playing in the IPL, and Rutherford too will be expected to adapt quickly to these challenges. GT will want him to go ballistic in the lower middle order either while chasing or propping up a total.

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#3 Xavier Bartlett (Brisbane Heat)

Seamer Xavier Bartlett is another key prospect to watch out for in the BBL this year. The Brisbane Heat seamer has consistently done well in Australia and thoroughly earned being picked up by Punjab Kings for INR 80 lakh. Interestingly, PBKS are coached by fellow Australian Ricky Ponting.

The 25-year-old has played in two ODIs and 7 T20Is for Australia so far. He has an impressive average of just over 20 in T20 cricket, and was on fire for the Heat last season, picking up 20 wickets. Bartlett will hope to get game time for PBKS and impress those watching as well.

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#4 Spencer Johnson (Brisbane Heat)

Left-arm seamer Spencer Johnson, who was picked up by defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2025 auction held earlier this year in Saudi Arabia, is an exciting player who can make use of his tall frame.

Johnson played for Gujarat Titans in the previous season of the IPL but was not very successful, picking up just four wickets in five matches. KKR have, therefore, made a huge bet on him by spending INR 2.8 crores.

Along with his colleague Bartlett, Johnson too plays for the Brisbane Heat in the BBL and will be hoping to impress. He did extremely well last season, picking up nineteen wickets in eleven matches for the Gabba-based side.

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#5 Jake Fraser-McGurk (Melbourne Renegades)

Australia's limited-overs opener Jake Fraser-McGurk enjoyed a fine run in the IPL last season with the Delhi Capitals but unfortunately, spiralled into a spate of poor form following that. In this year's auction, he was picked up by his former side DC, who used their Right to Match option to pick him up for INR 9 crores.

Fraser-McGurk is an aggressive batter who can run away with the game inside the first six overs. Although his strike rate in T20Is and ODIs is 143 and 155 respectively, his corresponding averages are that of 16 and 17. In overall T20 cricket too, his average is only 21, and DC will hope that he springs a surprise in 2025.