Pakistan’s legendary pacer, Shoaib Akhtar believes that Pakistan’s national team captain, Babar Azam would be one of the highest-paid players in the Indian Premier League (IPL) if Pakistani players were allowed to take part in the competition.
Shoaib’s remarks came during his ongoing IPL show alongside former Indian spinner, Harbhajan Singh, on Sportskeeda.
The Rawalpindi Express believes that it would be a wonderful sight to see Pakistani and Indian players play alongside each other in franchise T20 leagues around the world. He added that it would be huge for the fans of both countries to see players such as Babar Azam and Virat Kohli playing together.
The fastest bowler in the world stated that it would be great to see the star players open together in the IPL one day and it would be an exciting moment in the cricketing world. He added that Babar Azam is one of the most sought-after cricketers in franchise T20 tournaments around the world and he would possibly be the most expensive Pakistani player in IPL. He said that Babar would go for around 15-20 crore INR.
Shoaib is one of the few Pakistani players to have taken part in IPL. He was picked up by Kolkata Knight Riders in the inaugural edition of the tournament. Since then, the Indian cricket board and the government have banned Pakistani players from the competition.
Here are the Pakistani players who took part in IPL’s first edition:
| Player | Team | Auction Price |
| Shahid Afridi | Deccan Chargers | INR 2.71 crore |
| Mohammad Asif | Delhi Daredevils | INR 2.61 crore |
| Shoaib Malik | Delhi Daredevils | INR 2 crore |
| Shoaib Akhtar | Kolkata Knight Riders | INR 1.7 crore |
| Umar Gul | Kolkata Knight Riders | INR 60.24 lakh |
| Salman Butt | Kolkata Knight Riders | INR 40.16 lakh |
| Mohammad Hafeez | Kolkata Knight Riders | INR 40.16 lakh |
| Younis Khan | Rajasthan Royals | INR 90.36 lakh |
| Kamran Akmal | Rajasthan Royals | INR 60 lakh |
| Sohail Tanvir | Rajasthan Royals | INR 40.16 lakh |
| Misbah-ul-Haq | Royal Challengers Bangalore | INR 50.2 lakh |
Furthermore, former Pakistani all-rounder, Azhar Mahmood took part in three IPL editions after attaining a British passport.
| Edition | Team | Auction Price |
| IPL 2012 | Kings XI Punjab | INR 1.0540 crore |
| IPL 2013 | Kings XI Punjab | INR 1.0654 crore |
| IPL 2015 | Kolkata Knight Riders | INR 50 lakh |
In shoiab akhtar’s dream. Babar is still far from being a good t20 batter. Mind set of praising for a lower score and praising a lower class player for youtube points is spoiling our most of the players. The on going series with australia shows top batters n bowlers are australians but we continue spoil further our 2nd class players baber n shaheen afridi. They are not on top even at home series. Whats the point?
Media praises them like no one is better then the pakistani cricket players. Shit. They are low quality n sick players. Needed big efforts, fitness and concentration on job. Some fools are compering pakistan n indian players salaries. Another controversy creating towards worst.
Think if u buy a shop in posh shopping mall it will b expensive compared to a low class area. In my opinion they should be penalized for low performances, drop catches.