Is Anderson a gamble worth taking in the IPL?

James Anderson took almost 300 wickets in white-ball cricket for England between 2002 and 2015

Could the glorious, record-breaking career of James Anderson have one last Bollywood-style ending?

England's greatest-ever bowler is one of the names going under the hammer when the Indian Premier League mega auction takes place in Saudi Arabia on 24 and 25 November.

But would any move for the 42-year-old, who has retired from international cricket, be a gamble worth taking for the franchises?

BBC Sport looks into the numbers.

When did Anderson last play international white-ball cricket?

Anderson has not played any white-ball cricket for England since 2015 and his last T20 international appearance was more than 15 years ago (his last white-ball game for Lancashire was in 2019).

Anderson devoted the second half of his career to Test cricket - becoming statistically the greatest fast bowler ever.

Short-form cricket is different though: it's played with a white rather than a red ball, pitches are generally flatter and batters more aggressive. There are fielding restrictions too.

Which, of course, Anderson knows all about - he is England's leading wicket-taker in one-day internationals with 269 victims in 194 matches.

He only played 19 times in T20 cricket for his country, though, taking a modest (by his lofty standards) 18 wickets at 31. His economy rate - runs conceded per over - was 7.84, compared to 4.92 in ODIs and 2.79 in Tests.

OK, but what about white-ball cricket in India?

Andersonʼs white-ball record on Indian soil does not flatter him.

The only limited-overs cricket he has played in India are 17 ODIs between 2006 and 2011.

Compared to all other visiting seamers in that same period (bowling a minimum of 400 ODI deliveries), Anderson had the worst average, worst dismissal rate and the second highest economy rate.

The case for the defence? Since 2012 only Australia spinner Nathan Lyon has more Test wickets in India as an opposition bowler (56 to Anderson's 34).

Anderson's control has been exemplary, too - with an economy rate of 2.72 (Lyon's is 3.16).

It's that control and ability to tie down and work over even the best batters that might persuade a franchise Anderson is a gamble worth taking - he did, after all, take another 324 Test wickets after his final ODI cap.

Is there a place for line and length bowlers in IPL?

In a word, yes.

Anderson is anything but a line and length bowler. He is perhaps the most skillful fast bowler to have played the game, but if he needs to lock in on line and length, he can do that too.

According to CricViz, data shows the trend in T20 cricket over the years has actually been to bowl more deliveries on a good length.

In 2009, seamers were bowling 37% of deliveries on a good length, and by 2024 this has increased to 43%. However, the opposite is true with regards to line of delivery. This seems to be where bowling units have decided to ‘mix it upʼ more.

Back in 2009, 56% of T20 balls bowled by seamers were pitching in a ‘goodʼ line but in this current year, this has dropped to 51%.

Could Anderson's swing be an IPL gamechanger?

The numbers are not on Anderson's side here, either.

His white-ball swing delivery data is middle of the pack when compared to his contemporaries between 2010 and 2015.

In that period, Anderson extracted an average of 0.7° within the first 10 overs of an ODI innings.

This is little over half of the amount of swing that Irfan Pathan (1.4°), Trent Boult (1.2°) and Suranga Lakmal (1.2°) to name a few, were getting in their respective ODI careers in the same period.

Does Anderson bring more than just numbers?

Unquestionably he does.

While still in the early stages of his coaching career, Anderson has already impressed Brendon McCullum enough to become a virtual mainstay in his slimmed-down coaching set-up.

What Anderson doesn't know about bowling probably isn't worth knowing.

Former South Africa captain AB De Villiers, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest ever T20 batters, believes franchises should be queueing up to sign Anderson.

"I would take him purely because there's a lot of experience that can be shared with some of the young players - just his aura will give the bowling unit confidence," he told his YouTube channel.

"This guy knows his game inside out."

That is something Anderson himself would value, telling BBC Radio 4: "I've done a little bit of coaching since I finished in the summer, so I think opening my eyes up to something like that and experiencing it might help me grow my knowledge of the game and be useful further down the line."

If Anderson - or his potential paymasters - do want to look for precedence, then one of the two men to have taken more Test wickets than Anderson is the late Australia leg-spinner Shane Warne, who played into his forties in the IPL.

He took 57 wickets in four seasons for Rajasthan Royals, and combined the role of captain and coach as they won the inaugural title in 2008.

Don't bank against Anderson enjoying a similarly enjoyable Indian summer.