Babar Azam to return to Pakistan domestic first-class cricket

Pakistan Test captain Babar Azam plans to play in the country’s domestic first-class cricket for the first time since 2019. He is set to join Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), which competes in the President’s Trophy Grade-I, Dawn reports.

Joining OGDCL

OGDCL sports department head Farah Batool said that Azam will return to Pakistan from the United Kingdom on September 16 and join the team the following day. According to her, after arriving, the cricketer will decide whether to take the field in the tournament’s second match, which starts on September 18, or in the third game scheduled for September 24.

In the opening President’s Trophy match, OGDCL will play Pakistan Television in Islamabad. The team’s next opponent will be Kingsmen Academy in Peshawar, after which OGDCL will face Khan Research Laboratories (KRL).

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According to Dawn, the Pakistan Cricket Board offered Azam the opportunity to play for OGDCL as a guest player. Other prominent Pakistani cricketers have also joined the President’s Trophy: one-day international team captain Shaheen Shah Afridi represents KRL, while T20I team captain Salman Ali Agha plays for Kingsmen Academy.

Last match in 2019

Azam played his last domestic first-class match on December 30, 2019. He then led Central Punjab to the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final, where the team defeated Northern by an innings and 16 runs.

Over the past four years, Azam has not scored a single century in Test cricket. In the recent series against the West Indies, he was named player of the series after scoring 196 runs in two matches. In the series against England, his scores across four innings were 8, 6, 7 and 76 runs, and he missed the first Test due to injury.

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