Shaheen Afridi, Babar Azam would be box office at IPL auction, predict Tom Moody and Manjrekar
Shaheen, Babar would be box office at IPL auction, predict former legends
Former cricketer-turned-commentators Sanjay Manjrekar and Tom Moody shared their thoughts on which Pakistani player would be the biggest bet in an IPL auction in an ideal world. During the inaugural edition back in 2008, Pakistan players appeared in the IPL, with big names also contributing, leaving an impact. Following that season, Pakistan players didn't participate in the tournament owing to political unrest between the Indian and Pakistan governments.
Fast forward 15 seasons, after the end of the recently-concluded IPL 2023, two former cricketers opined how much Pakistan cricketers would fare if they were to put in an IPL auction. Speaking on ESPNcricinfo, Moody said Pakistan’s spearhead Shaheen Afridi would be a box office as he will be the number one pick, while Manjrekar feels keeper-batter Muhammad Rizwan would pocket huge bucks too.
On Pakistan captain Babar Azam, both feel most teams would chase him given his credentials in the shortest format. Besides, Moody also thinks spin-bowling all-rounder Shadab Khan would be of everyone’s interest.
“Shaheen Afridi, Babar Azam, Rizwan and Shadab Khan. They have got a number of terrific players, particularly in this format of the game. Shaheen would be your No.1 pick, he would be box office,” Tom Moody was quoted as saying to ESPNcricinfo.
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Other than them, Manjrekar thinks seamer Haris Rauf and opener Fakhar Zaman would be among the top picks too.
“One of the best death bowlers, Haris Rauf,” Manjrekar said. “I think about their bowlers more than their batters. But Fakhar Zaman would be an interesting choice in certain teams.”
Pakistan’s domination in T20 cricket
Several Pakistan players hold top positions in their respective categories in ICC Rankings due to their consistent performance at the top level. Be it the top-order of Babar, Rizwan and Fakhar or the lower middle order, including Shadab and Shaheen.
While Rizwan and Babar are 2nd and 3rd on the batter's list, respectively, Shadab is fourth best all-rounder on the list.
Even considering their performance in the T20 World Cups, Pakistan reached the last four on the past two occasions, having made the finals in the 2022 edition in Australia – where they suffered a five-wicket defeat at the hands of England.
Recently, Pakistan and New Zealand shared honours in their recently-concluded T20I series, with result ending 2-2 in the five-match series.
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