Last Update on: August 3rd, 2023 at 05:53 pm
The IPL 2023 season starts on March 31 with Gujarat Titans taking on the Chennai Super Kings in the campaign opener. Gujarat won the title in their inaugural season by beating Rajasthan Royals in the final. BCCI revealed the groups for IPL 2023 keeping Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings in different groups. Mumbai is placed in Group A alongside KKR, DC, RR and LSG. Meanwhile, CSK are placed in Group B alongside RCB, SRH, PBKS, and GT.
The IPL 2023 auction was held on December 23 in Kochi. A total of 991 players, including 714 Indians and 277 overseas, registered for the IPL 2023 mini-auction. Meanwhile, the BCCI trimmed down the final list of players from 991 to 405. 369 players were initially shortlisted by 10 teams, but later 36 additional players were requested and they were added to the final list.
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Among the 405 cricketers, 273 were Indians and 132 were overseas players of which 4 players are from associate nations. Also, a total of 119 capped players, 282 uncapped players, and 4 associate nations entered the IPL 2023 mini-auction. A maximum of 87 players went up in the auction of which 30 were overseas. This was after the 10 franchises retained a total of 163 players and released 85 players during the retention window.
Players from Pakistan played in the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008. Names like Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar, Salman Butt, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Asif amongst others played for the different franchises.
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However, after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks the Indian government in coordination with the BCCI banned the Pakistani players from participating in the tournament. This was how the Indian government expressed its displeasure at the activities of the neighboring nation.
Since then debates have been on regarding the participation of Pakistani players in the IPL. Both countries have also not played a bilateral series after the attacks and only faced each other in ICC events and Asia Cup tournaments.
The participation of Pakistani players would certainly have a big impact on the IPL. Several of their players have been matchwinners in the PSL and certainly would have been a handful in the IPL as well. In this article, we take a look at 10 Pakistani players who could have been a blockbuster in the IPL.
IPL 2023: 10 Pakistan Players Who Could Have Been A Blockbuster In IPL
Babar Azam
Babar is among the top batters in world cricket at the moment and certainly would have been a huge star in the IPL. Expectedly all the team would have bid for the Pakistan skipper. In his short career so far, Babar has played a few important knocks against India and has made a mark in this rivalry.
