Former Indian, Australia cricketers vouch for Pakistani stars as top IPL picks.

DUBAI -- Pakistani star players including skipper Babar Azam, paceman Shaheen Shah Afridi and opener Mohammad Rizwan and others have been named by former Indian and Australian cricketers, as potential top picks for the Indian Premier League (IPL) "in a perfect world".

The strained relations between Pakistan and India has forced the two sides to suspend bilateral cricket completely. The arch-rivals only face each other in multi-team events, and they also do not trade cricketers in each others' league cricket tournaments, Pakistan Super League (PSL) and IPL.

A report published by India Today stated that Pakistani pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi, who is a two-times champion at the PSL and currently featuring Nottinghamshire in the T20 Blast, would be a "box office" deal if roped in by any franchise part of the IPL, as per Tom Moody.

The veteran Australian cricketer, who worked as the head coach of IPL's Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), said that a number of Pakistani cricketers including skipper Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Shadab Khan had the potential to attract lucrative deals to become part of the IPL.

'Shaheen Afridi, Babar Azam, Rizwan and Shadab Khan. They have got a number of terrific players, particularly in this format of the game. Shaheen would be your No.1 pick, he would be box office,' Moody was quoted as saying to ESPNcricinfo.

Meanwhile, Sanjay Manjrekar believes that...