Abdul Samad Birth Place: How Many Jammu and Kashmir Players are Part of IPL 2023?

Sunrisers Hyderabad‘s middle-order batter Abdul Samad was born on October 28, 2001 in Rajouri district’s Kalakote town in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. When he had made his IPL debut against the Delhi Capitals in Abu Dhabi during the 2020 edition of the league, he had become only the third cricketer from the state to have featured in the league’s fixture.

Before him, off-break bowler Parvez Rasool and fast bowler Rasikh Salam had made their respective debuts for SRH and Mumbai Indians respectively. While Parvez’s maiden IPL appearance was in the year 2014, Rasikh played his first IPL match in 2019.

Another Kashmiri allrounder in Manzoor Dar was picked by the Punjab Kings ahead of the 2018 auction, but was released by the franchise next year without receiving his maiden IPL cap.

How Many Jammu and Kashmir Players are Part of IPL 2023?

In the ongoing 16th season of the Indian Premier League, as many as five players are part of different franchises with three of them picked during the mini players auction in December last year.

After Indian national team pacer Umran Malik and Abdul Samad were retained by SRH ahead of the ongoing season, middle-order batter from the state Vivrant Sharma was also roped in by the franchise at INR 2.6 crore in December.

Apart from Vivrant, fast bowlers Avinash Singh (at INR 60 Lakh) and Yudhvir Singh (at INR 20 Lakh) were also roped in by Royal Challengers Bangalore and Lucknow Super Giants respectively.

Yudhvir, in fact, became the fifth cricketer from the state to play at least an IPL match, after made his debut for LSG against the Punjab Kings in Lucknow last month. He was signed by Mumbai Indians before the IPL 2021 auction but unfortunately had to warm the benches the entire season.

All the players hailing from the Jammu Division

Interestingly, all the aforementioned five cricketers hail from the Jammu division, as none of the players from Kashmir could make it to the squad of any of the franchises this season.

A total of 21 cricketers from Jammu and Kashmir had gone under the hammer during the mini auction in December last year, but not a single player from Kashmir managed to attract any of the franchises.

Apart from them, seven other players from the state have been picked as net bowlers for different franchises in IPL 2023.