The IPL 2023 auction is less than a month away, and the fans are buzzing about it. After the 10-team IPL 2022, which the Gujarat Titans won under the leadership of Hardik Pandya and Ashish Nehra, the talks of the retentions and release by franchises had been building up raucously among fans.
A couple of weeks ago, all the franchises announced their list of retained and released players, and some of the biggest names in world cricket – Kane Williamson, Jason Holder, Dwayne Bravo – were released.
Anyway, today we will look at some Pakistani players who could have fetched huge bids in the IPL auction if they were allowed to participate in the league. The Pakistani players only played in the first season back in 2008, and then, due to political and border tensions between the two countries, the BCCI banned Pakistani players from the IPL.
Here are 5 Pakistani players who could have been sold for big money in the IPL auction had they been allowed to play in the IPL:
Shaheen Afridi
With the dearth of high-quality fast bowlers in India, without a doubt, fast bowler Shaheen Afridi would have been the most expensive Pakistani player in the IPL auction. The 22-year-old left-arm pacer is one of the best all-format bowlers in the world; he’s perhaps even the best new-ball bowler in the world – Indian fans would remember his lethal opening spell in the T20 WC in UAE.
Shaheen is tall, has pace, can swing and seam the ball, can bowl lethal yorkers and menacing bouncers, and has developed variations to use in death overs – what more do you ask from a fast bowler? For statistical purposes, Shaheen has 176 wickets in 126 T20 matches.
Shadab Khan
Pakistan’s T20I vice-captain and a street-smart all-rounder, Shadab Khan, surely would have attracted high bids in the IPL auction room.
Shadab was Pakistan’s main man in the recent T20 WC 2022 in Australia – he picked up 11 wickets (most for Pakistan) at an economy of 6.34, and with the bat scored 98 runs at a strike rate of 168, including a blistering half-century in a must-win match vs South Africa.
He is a canny leg-spinner and is one of the best hitters of spinners in the Pakistan team.
Mohammad Rizwan
Nobody has scored more international T20I runs since the start of 2021 than Mohammad Rizwan. Being promoted to open the batting in the absence of a regular opener, that move from the management has changed Rizwan’s career.
Since 2021, he has amassed 2322 runs at an average of 58, notching up 22 fifties and a century in 51 innings – that is 23 50+ scores in 51 innings. There has been a complaint about his strike rate – 129 in this period – but Rizwan follows the suit of setting himself in first and then exploding in the latter half of the innings. Rizwan is, of course, the aggressive opener when batting with Babar.
Babar Azam
Like Rizwan, Babar Azam has also ransacked big amount of runs in T20Is – second leading T20I scorer since 2021 (1674 at 34) – and like Rizwan, Babar has also been heavily criticized for his strike rate of 125.
Nonetheless, the quality of Babar and Rizwan is well-known, and, though some of their T20 innings have been counter-productive for their teams, they have the temperament and shots to accelerate once they get their eye in. Over the years, we have seen that IPL franchises value such openers because the pitches get slower and assist the bowlers later in the season, such high-quality batters win matches for their teams.
Haris Rauf
Haris Rauf first made his name in the BBL, taking the tournament by storm with his pace, bounce, and accuracy, and then did the same when he got into the national colors. Rauf has so far picked 72 wickets in 57 T20Is for Pakistan, and is one of the best death-overs pacers in the world. Haris Rauf would be one of the most expensive picks if he comes in the IPL auction now with his current form and his stocks on the rise. Sadly, the IPL, at the moment, is not taking Pakistani players.
