Afghan batsman Ibrahim Zadran recalled his early days watching the Indian Premier League (IPL), supporting the Deccan Chargers led by the legendary Adam Gilchrist. Wicketkeeper-batsman Rahmanullah Gurbaz described the Indian Premier League as one of the biggest cricket tournaments in the world.
Afghanistan national team cricketers including Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb ur Rahman and Rahmanullah Gurbaz have attracted attention for their outstanding performances in the Indian Premier League. They have made significant contributions by representing various franchises in the premier tournament.
Rashid Khan represented SunRisers Hyderabad and Gujarat Titans (GT) in the IPL. The leg-spinner has picked up 149 wickets in 121 matches at an impressive save rate of 6.82. Gurbaz, Noor Ahmad, Mohammad Nabi, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Azmatullah Omarzai and Mujeeb ur Rahman were picked for the teams in the IPL 2024.
I will gain a lot of experience thanks to them – Ibrahim Zadran
In a video shared by Star Sports on X (formerly known as Twitter), Ibrahim Zadran expressed his dream of playing in the IPL, seeing it as a significant achievement and an opportunity to gain experience from veteran players like Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni.
“Yes, I still remember the first time I played in the IPL. I was supporting Deccan Chargers. Deccan Chargers was my favourite team. Adam Gilchrist was the captain of that team. Rohit Sharma was also there. There are so many teams in the IPL. Any team I play for will be a big achievement for me. I want to play with Virat Kohli or MS Dhoni. Rohit Sharma, they are the senior players. I am pretty sure I will get a lot of experience from them,” Ibrahim Zadran said.
Ibrahim Zadran is yet to get a chance to play in the IPL. The right-handed batsman has represented Afghanistan in 44 T20I matches, scoring 1105 runs at an average of 29.08 and a strike rate of 107.28. He scored 231 runs in eight matches at the 2024 T20 World Cup, where Afghanistan reached the semi-finals.
This is what we got from the IPL – Rahmanullah Gurbaz
Rahmanullah Gurbaz described the IPL as one of the biggest leagues in the world and highlighted that it exposes players to top-quality bowlers at the world level. He stressed that the IPL provides valuable experience as Afghan players may not face the best teams in bilateral series.
“IPL is one of the biggest leagues in the world, I think. If you play in IPL, you are almost used to all the bowlers in the world. So I can say that it has helped us a lot and the pressure on our shoulders was there. We didn’t get much chance to play against big teams in the series. So, if you don’t play against them, there will be some pressure because the big names will be there. So, in IPL, we take all the pressure off because we play against all the bowlers. That’s what we got from IPL,” Rahmanullah Gurbaz said.
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