Afghan all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai has quietly become one of the Indian Premier League’s most reliable new-ball enforcers, and his two-season journey from Gujarat Titans in 2024 to Punjab Kings in 2025 underlines a rapid ascent. Across 15 bowling innings he has snapped 12 wickets, never taking fewer than one in any spell and twice striking twice in an over. Those scalps have come from 48 overs—exactly 288 balls—at an impressive strike-rate of 24.00, while the economy sits at 9.69 despite bowling mostly inside the powerplay and at the death. The numbers tell the story of a bowler trusted to attack: zero three-fors or five-fors yet, but every spell carries threat. With the bat Omarzai is still emerging—99 runs in 74 balls, eight fours and five sixes, and a highest of 21—but the 133 strike-rate shows intent whenever Punjab need late-order impetus. After two short campaigns he already owns the rare combination of consistent wicket-taking and boundary-clearing muscle, making Azmatullah Omarzai a name IPL fans will search for as the 2025 playoffs loom.

Chris Gayle IPL story: 13 seasons, 4 965 runs, 357 sixes and one unforgettable 175. The self-styled “Universe Boss” walked into IPL 2009 with Kolkata Knight Riders, but it was at Royal Challengers Bengaluru from 2011-2017 that he became a global T20 icon—belting 404 fours and 357 sixes overall at a jaw-dropping strike rate of 148. In 141 innings he cleared the rope once every 9.3 balls and produced 31 half-centuries plus six blistering hundreds, the most famous being his record 175* off 66 balls at the Chinnaswamy in 2013. After his Bengaluru fireworks, Gayle took his power game to Punjab Kings, turning up in orange from 2018 to 2021 and continuing to pepper boundaries with the same ruthless ease. While he rolled his arm over occasionally—18 wickets in 38 bowling innings—his narrative is written in soaring sixes and match-winning hundreds that re-defined T20 batting forever.

Note: This overview is partially generated using AI and is based on statistical data. Please verify with official sources for complete accuracy.