Five Pakistan-born players who played in IPL after inaugural season

3. Usman Khawaja

Usman Khawaja, the Islamabad-born cricketer, is an integral part of Australia’s Test side. In 2016, the left-handed batter registered himself for the IPL auctions for a base price of INR 1 crore. Khawaja was fetched at his base price by Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS), who were going to make their IPL debut that year.

RPS ended up their campaign in the seventh position on the points table, winning only five games out of 14 contests. During their campaign, Khawaja got a chance to feature in the playing XI for six games. However, he failed to grab the opportunities, scoring only 127 runs in six innings at a dismal strike rate of 127.00.

After warming benches for more than the first half of the season, Khawaja was picked up for the match against Delhi Capitals (Delhi Daredevils). In his debut game, he contributed 30 runs in his team’s seven-wicket win. In 2017, Khawaja was a part of RPS but didn’t get a single game throughout their spectacular campaign till the final.