Pakistan legend Waqar Younis was the bowling coach of Sunrisers Hyderabad during the IPL 2013. This was the debut season for the 2016 IPL winners. The franchise underwent a change after 2012, once Deccan Chargers were dissolved.

Younis spoke to Shubhankar Mishra, who urged him to name his favourite IPL side.

“In 2013, I was with the Sunrisers as the bowling coach, and I had great experience. I also worked as a commentator for a few seasons with Sidhu and others. I have a lot of good memories with the league, and a lot of changes keep taking place, so it becomes difficult to tell which player is part of which team,” he said.

“Look, Sunrisers was a good experience. I was with them, and I enjoyed my time, so Hyderabad is my favourite franchise.”

Former Australian all-rounder Tom Moody was the head coach while Indian legend VVS Laxman was the mentor and ambassador.

1983 World Cup winner Kris Srikkanth was also with the team as the mentor, while the batting coach was Simon Helmot. The side was led by Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara, who left the team midway due to international commitments.

Cameron White took over the captaincy and led the side to a fourth-place finish and helped them qualify for the playoffs. They lost to the Rajasthan Royals in the eliminator.

SRH posted just 132/7. Royals, led by Rahul Dravid, won the game by four wickets.

Pakistan players in the IPL

In 2008, when the league started, players from Pakistan were bought by different franchises. Rajasthan added Kamran Akmal, Sohail Tanvir and Younis Khan to their squad, while Royal Challengers Bengaluru signed 2007 T20 World Cup hero Misbah Ul Haq.

Shoaib Akhtar represented the Kolkata Knight Riders and made his debut against Delhi Daredevils (Delhi Capitals) and claimed four wickets.

Salman Butt, Mohammad Hafeez and Umar Gul were also part of the KKR.

Delhi signed Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Asif. On the other hand, Deccan Chargers bought Shahid Afridi. After the terror attack on Mumbai in November 2008, Pakistan players were banned from the competition.