Top five oldest players in Indian Premier League

India Premier League is considered as the perfect platform for youngsters to show their talent in front of the world. Every year several young guns make a name for themselves by performing against international stars. However, the tournament has been equally welcoming of the old talent in the cricketing fraternity. There have been several cricketers who came in the league after the age of 40 and performed like youngsters telling everyone that 'age is just a number'. On that note, let's take a look at the top five oldest cricketers in the history of India Premier League:

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5 Chris Gayle (42 years 7 days)

Chris Gayle (Source: Twitter)

The West Indies legend is one of the most successful batters in the league's history. He was  playing for Punjab franchise in Indian T20 League 2021, before he made his decision to leave.

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Chris Gayle debuted for Kolkata franchise in 2008 against Delhi franchise in the inauguration year of Indian T20 League. After playing for 3 years for Kolkata the destructive batsman was bought by Bangalore in 2011 where he had a change of fortunes. He played his last match against Mumbai on 28th September 2021. Gayle was 42 years and 7 days old on the day of the match.

4 Imran Tahir (42 years 29 days)

Imran Tahir (Source: Twitter)

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South African leg spinner Imran Tahir comes at 4th place in our list of oldest Indian T20 League cricketers in history. He made his Indian T20 League debut in 2014 playing for Delhi against Hyderabad at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi.

He played last on 25th April 2021 in the first leg of the Indian T20 League 2021. He was then 42 years and 29 days old playing for Chennai. In the 59 matches played in his career he took 82 wickets with an average of 20.77 and with an economy rate of 7.76. He has also played in other famous India Premier League like PSL, BPL, CPL, and BBL.

3 Muttiah Muralitharan (42 years 35 days) 

Muttiah Muralitharan (Source: Twitter)

Muttiah Muralitharan had a pretty long career in the India Premier League However, he represented three different teams across the seven seasons he featured in. Murali represented Chennai in the first three seasons. And then the new entrants Kerala in the 2011 edition. Muralitharan’s last three seasons were spent in Bangalore. He comes at number 3 in our list of Oldest Indian T20 League cricketers in history.

The off-spinner featured in 66 matches and claimed 63 wickets. However, he had a phenomenal economy rate of 6.67. Murali was 42 years and 35 days old when he drew curtains on his India Premier League career in 2014

2 Pravin Tambe (44 years 219 days)

Pravin Tambe (Source: Twitter)

Tambe came into the Indian  Premier League in 2013 at the age of 41 without playing a first-class match or List A match of the Twenty20 game. He was spotted by legendary Rahul Dravid and was immediately included in the Rajasthan squad. He had a phenomenal season in 2014 when he picked fifteen wickets including a hattrick. Between 2013 and 2016, the leg-spinner featured in 33 matches, and the last one was for the previous Gujarat franchise against Bangalore. Tambe was 44 years and 219 days old during that game played in Bangalore.

1 Brad Hogg (45 years 92 days)

Brad Hogg (Source: Twittter)

The former Australian spinner Brad Hogg announced his retirement at the end of the 2007/08 season but made a comeback in 2011/12 and lasted longer than expected. Brad Hogg played a total of 21 India Premier League matches taking 23 wickets including a 4-wicket haul. His last game was in May 2016 against Gujarat where he finished with figures of 2-0-19-1 in Kolkata’s 5-wicket loss. Hogg was 45 years and 92 days old during that match. He is the oldest cricketer to be featured in an Top five oldest players in India Premier League match to date.