Shoaib Akhtar picks Pakistan players who could have been in the Indian T20 League

Pakistan players haven’t featured in the Indian T20 League for quite a while due to the political tension between India and Pakistan. In the inaugural season in 2008, a lot of the then-star players played for different teams. In fact, the first-ever Purple Cap winner is Sohail Tanvir from Pakistan. He played for Rajasthan and helped the team lift the title. Currently, he is plying his trade in the Pakistan Super League.

Meanwhile, former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar, who featured for Kolkata in the inaugural season, has picked some Pakistan players who could have been in the ongoing Indian T20 League 2022. The first one he picked was Shoaib Malik, who played for Delhi in 2008. Akhtar opines that Malik loves playing for new teams and would have got a huge sum in the Lucknow team.

The next one was Azhar Ali for whom the speedster cheekily said ‘Azhar Ali ko select karoge’?. However, he said that Ali would have been picked in the Rajasthan as he is could have played as an opening batter. After this, the Rawalpindi-born said that Asif Ali would have played for Kolkata as he is a game-changer and would have hive massive sixes alongside Andre Russell.

The next one he picked was the wicketkeeper batter Mohammad Rizwan. He said that Rizwan is quick on his feet and is a team man which a player like Virat Kohli would have liked. The former pacer further said that Pakistan skipper Babar Azam would be been picked by Mumbai for a huge amount. The last player he picked was left-arm pacer Shaheen Afridi. Akhtar feels that the speedster would have been picked in the Delhi team.

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Talking about the players that participated in the Indian T20 League 2008, only Sohail Tanvir, Shoaib Malik, and Mohammad Hafeez have been playing any form of competitive cricket. Most of them have retired and players such as Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif were banned for spot-fixing in the 2010 tour of England.