3 Pakistan origin players who will play in IPL 2023

The IPL 2023 will commence in a few months. The 10-team tournament will return to its home-and-away format in the 2023 season. The player auction for the IPL 2023 tournament took place last Friday in Kochi, where 80 players earned contracts from 10 franchises.

243 players have IPL contracts to their name in the 2023 season. For the first time, the league will see players from Namibia and Ireland showcasing their talent on the field in IPL matches. The only Test-playing nation whose players do not own an IPL contract is Pakistan.

Due to off-field reasons, Pakistan players do not have permission to participate in the Indian Premier League. However, fans should note that out of the 243 players with an IPL contract in 2023, three are of Pakistani background. Here is a list of those three cricketers.

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#1 Sikandar Raza will make his debut in IPL 2023

Pakistan v Zimbabwe - ICC Men's T20 World Cup (Image: Getty)

Sikandar Raza was born in Sialkot city of Pakistan. He will make his IPL debut in the upcoming season as the Punjab Kings offered him his maiden IPL contract at the recently concluded player auction.

Punjab Kings signed the Zimbabwe team all-rounder for ₹50 lakh. It looks like Raza will play the finisher and off-spin bowling all-rounder's role for the Punjab Kings in IPL 2023.

As far as his numbers in T20 cricket are concerned, Raza has played 158 matches, scoring 3,109 runs at a strike rate of 129.81. He has scored 19 T20 fifties. In the bowling department, Raza has picked up 79 wickets at an economy rate of 7.34. His best bowling figures are 4/8.

Raza has featured in Caribbean Premier League, Pakistan Super League, Mzansi Super League, and Bangladesh Premier League in the past. It will be interesting to see how he performs in his first IPL season.

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#2 Moeen Ali

England all-rounder Moeen Ali is also of Pakistani origin. The spin-bowling all-rounder will play for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in IPL 2023. CSK had retained him ahead of the IPL 2022 Mega Auction, and his retention for the 2023 season did not come as a surprise.

Ali has been a match-winner for the Chennai-based franchise in both the departments. He has played some great knocks for the team while also making his presence felt in the spin department. The all-rounder will hold the key to CSK's success in IPL 2023.

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#3 Adil Rashid

Adil Rashid played a huge role in England's T20 World Cup win earlier this year. The Pakistani-origin England spinner earned an IPL contract for the 2023 season after not attracting any bids in the previous mega auction.

Rashid will play for the IPL 2016 champions SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in IPL 2023. SRH signed him at his base price of ₹2 crore. Rashid is likely to lead the SRH spin department in the upcoming season. He will have the backing of Mayank Markande, Akeal Hosein, Abdul Samad, Washington Sundar, and Abhishek Sharma in the team's spin attack.