By Gia Huynh 
Alright folks, today I wanted to figure out who the top Pakistan players in the IPL were right now. Simple question, right? Figured I’d dig in and share how it actually went down.
First thing I did was what anyone would do. I hopped online, fired up the search, and typed in something like “Top Pakistan players IPL 2025.” Honestly, I thought a list would pop up straight away. How wrong was I?
Bam! I got hit with tons of articles about team lineups – PBKS vs DC, RCB vs PBKS, you name it. These articles showed me the playing XIs, like the ones mentioning players for Punjab Kings: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Josh Inglis, Shashank Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Marcus Stoinis, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh. Delhi Capitals had names like Faf du Plessis, KL Rahul, Axar Patel. RCB listed guys like Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Phil Salt. Okay, great players… but I scanned these lists real hard, over and over. Pakistani flags? Nothing jumping out. Felt weird.
Poked around some more, hoping maybe I just missed something. Stumbled across older stuff, articles about different leagues entirely – Iraqi leagues, Saudi leagues, full of unfamiliar names and stats from like, ages ago. Totally useless for this IPL Pakistan hunt. Started feeling like I was hitting a dead end.
So then I thought, “Maybe none are playing? Nah, can’t be.” Went deeper, digging into the why. Turns out, yeah. That old drama between the cricket boards is still the real story. Because of that real-world stuff off the field, no Pakistani players have been in the IPL auction for ages now. They’re just not allowed. Had no clue this was the case until today!
This got me thinking way back. Names popped into my head – those legends who actually played years ago:
- Shahid Afridi (Boom Boom!),
- Shoaib Akhtar (The Rawalpindi Express!),
- Sohail Tanvir (That weird, super effective action!),
- Kamran Akmal (Dynamic wicketkeeper-batsman).
Absolute stars of their time in the IPL. But seeing those old names just made the current emptiness louder. You kinda expect stars from every major cricketing nation to pop up, especially ones as crazy talented as Pakistani players.
End of my little investigation? Sadly, it’s straightforward: Right now, for 2025, there are exactly zero Pakistani players active in the IPL. My plan to list the top current Pakistani players crashed and burned before it even started. Bit of a bummer, really. Guess today’s “practice record” is mostly about stumbling onto this surprising gap and recalling the glory days instead. Makes me wish for simpler times, just seeing those guys light up the field again. Maybe someday.
Dung Huynh 