6 Oldest IPL Cricketers in History

Not often that the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises have entertained the inclusion of veteran players be it Indians or overseas stars. Players who featured in the league after turning 40 were quite rare and they are in countable number. Even the big names like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid played only one IPL season in the 40s. However, there has been only one player in the IPL history who played after turning 45. This list includes Brad Hogg, Pravin Tambe, Muttiah Muralidharan, Imran Tahir, Chris Gayle, and Shane Warne.

However, let's look into the complete list and details as SportzPoint.com here comes for you with all the details.

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#6. Shane Warne | 41 years 249 days

The legendary spinner from Australia comes at no 6th spot in our list of oldest IPL cricketers. Shane Warne was well known for his skill with the ball that has made him quite successful in International cricket. His captaincy skills were on display when he stood out as the only overseas player to lead a team in the inaugural edition.

He helped Rajasthan Royals to a title win in the 2008 season leading a team containing low profile players. Warne was well past the age of 38 by that time and led the Royals in four seasons until 2011. He called off to his IPL career in 2011 after leading RR in their last league match against the Mumbai Indians. His last wicket in the league was Rohit Sharma that too in the 20th over of MI innings.

The leg-spinner was 41 years and 249 days during his last game against MI. Even after his retirement from the IPL, Shane Warne featured in two editions of the Big Bash League playing for the Melbourne Stars. He finally called off his professional career in January 2013.

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#5. Chris Gayle | 42 years 7 days

The West Indies legend of the shortest format of the game comes at 5th position of the oldest IPL cricketers in history. However, he was in the squad of Punjab and was playing for Punjab Kings in IPL 2021, before he made his decision to left this year. He is currently out of the bio-bubble for refreshing himself for the upcoming T20 World Cup in UAE.

Chris Gayle debuts for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2008 against Delhi Daredevils(now Capitals) in the inauguration year of IPL. After playing for 3 years for KKR the destructive batsman was bought by RCB in 2011. He continued with RCB till 2017, before he joins Punjab Kings in 2018, and continuing for them till now. Chris Gayle has played a total of 142 IPL matches so far. In which he has scored a huge 4965 IPL runs with an average of 39.72. Also, he has the highest individual score of 175 runs in IPL which came in 2013 against Pune Warriors India.

However, he played his last match recently against Mumbai Indians on 28th September 2021. Gayle was 42 years and 7 days old when he last played against MI last month. Although, if he register his name for the next IPL mega auction and got a new team. He would definitely beat some of the toppers on this list.

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#4. Imran Tahir | 42 years 29 days

South African leg spinner Imran Tahir comes at 4th place in our list of oldest IPL cricketers in history. Imran Tahir is currently with Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2021. Although, he has not played till now in the second leg of IPL. Tahir made his IPL debut in 2014 against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi.

Although he is in the squad of CSK for IPL 2020, he has played last on 25th April 2021 in the first leg of IPL 2021. He was then 42 years and 29 days old when he last played in IPL for CSK. He was started his IPL career with Delhi Daredevils(now Capitals) in 2014 and played for several franchises. He has also played in other famous T20 leagues like PSL, BPL, CPL, and BBL.

He has played for Delhi daredevils till 2017. After that, from 2018 he is playing for Chennai Super Kings to date. However, he has played a total of 59 IPL games so far. In which he has taken 82 wickets with an average of 20.77 and with n economy rate of 7.76. Also, he has an impressive strike rate of 16.05 in IPL games.

#3. Muttiah Muralidharan | 42 years 35 days

Muttiah Muralitharan had a pretty long career in the IPL. However, he represented three different teams across the seven seasons he featured in. Murali represented Chennai Super Kings in the first three seasons. And then the new entrants Kochi Tuskers Kerala in the 2011 edition. Muralitharan's last three seasons were spent at the Royal Challengers Bangalore. He comes at number 3 in our list of Oldest IPL cricketers in history

The off-spinner featured in 66 IPL matches and claimed 63 wickets without taking a 5-for or even a 4-for. However, his economy rate of 6.67 was something special. Muralitharan played only five matches in the 2014 edition.

As the last of them was against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens. He had a tough finish to his IPL career where he conceded 19 runs in two overs and the RCB ended 30 runs short of KKR's total. murali was 42 years and 35 days old at the time of his last IPL appearances. Moreover, it was also his last professional match.

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#2. Pravin Tambe | 44 years 219 days

Pravin Tambe is the only Indian among the top six oldest IPL cricketers in history. Tambe, who has crossed 48 in the age, was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders at his base price during the auction held for the 2020 IPL. But, sadly he has not played a single game in IPL that year.

He was bought in the auction by KKR, in spite of not being in touch at the domestic level for the last years. He last played an official match was Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2017 for Mumbai. With limited-overs tournaments in the 2019/20 domestic season are over.

This might not be a new thing for Tambe who came into the IPL in 2013 at the age of 41 without playing a first-class match or List A match of the Twenty20 game. Between 2013 and 2016, the leg-spinner featured in 33 IPL matches, and the last one was for the Gujarat Lions against the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Tambe was 44 years and 219 days old during that game played in Bangalore.

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#1. Brad Hogg | 45 years 92 days

The former Australian spinner Brad Hogg announced his retirement at the end of the 2007/08 home season but made a comeback in 2011/12 and lasted longer than expected. Brad Hogg comes first on the list of oldest IPL cricketers in history. The chinaman bowler returned to cricket to represent the Perth Scorchers in the inaugural edition of the BBL. His efforts with the ball helped him to seal an IPL contract with the Rajasthan Royals in 2012 after turning 41.

In the 2013 edition, he was part of the Kolkata Knight Riders and represented them in 2015 and 2016 as well. His exploits in BBL even helped Hogg to feature in the 2014 World T20. Brad Hogg played a total of 21 IPL matches taking 23 wickets including a 4-wicket haul. His last IPL game was in May 2016 against the Gujarat Lions where he had figures of 2-0-19-1 in KKR's 5-wicket loss.

Hogg was 45 years and 92 days old during that match. He is the oldest IPL cricketer to be featured in an Indian Premier League match to date. Hogg, however, continued to feature in the Big Bash League and played two seasons after his IPL retirement. He signed off his professional career in the 2017/18 season two weeks before his 47th birthday while representing the Melbourne Renegades.

N.B: The stats are accurate as of 05/10/2021.