Pakistan Test captain Babar Azam is set to return to the country’s domestic red-ball circuit for the first time since 2019, with the batter featuring for Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) in the ongoing President’s Trophy Grade-I, the department’s sports head Farah Batool confirmed to Dawn on Monday.
Babar’s last domestic first-class appearance came when he led Central Punjab to the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy title, beating Northern by an innings and 16 runs in the final on Dec 30, 2019.
The batter, who was reappointed Pakistan’s Test captain in July, led the national side to a 1-1 draw against the West Indies and a 3-0 whitewash against England in his first two series in charge.
“Babar will arrive back in Pakistan from the UK on Sept 16 and will join the OGDCL squad the next day,” Farah said. “His kit has been ordered.”
OGDCL are currently playing Pakistan Television in their President’s Trophy opener in Islamabad. They will face Kingsmen Academy in Peshawar in their next match from Sept 18, followed by a fixture against Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) from Sept 24.
“Babar will decide upon his arrival if he plays from the second match or the third match,” Farah said.
Dawn understands that Babar was offered to OGDCL by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as a guest player.
He joins a number of prominent Pakistan internationals featuring in the President’s Trophy amid the PCB’s recent push for established players to participate in domestic first-class cricket.
Pakistan’s One-day International captain Shaheen Shah Afridi is representing KRL, while T20I skipper Salman Ali Agha is playing for Kingsmen Academy.
Babar has long been criticised for distancing himself from domestic red-ball cricket during the years in which he rose to prominence as one of Pakistan’s leading batters.
In the past four years, however, he has failed to score a century in Test cricket.
He showed signs of a return to form during Pakistan’s recent tour of the West Indies, where he was named player of the series after topping the batting charts with 196 runs across the two matches.
During the England series, however, Babar’s scores in his four innings were eight, six, seven and 76. He missed the opening Test because of injury.
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