The decline in Babar’s form has been one of the hottest topics of discussion in Pakistan cricket with former cricketers often dissecting his technique in public fora. The recent three-Test tour of England, where Pakistan were swept 3-0, added fuel to the debate after the England quicks exploiting his weakness against the short ball at Lord’s and Edgbaston. He had missed the first Test at Headingley because of an injury.
Babar, despite his struggles, has mostly stayed away from domestic first-class cricket and was not in any of the eight teams when the PCB announced the squads for this season’s President’s Trophy and President’s Cup last week.
The last time he played a domestic first-class tournament was in 2019, when he led the now-defunct Central Punjab team to victory against Northern in the final of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. That was only Babar’s second domestic first-class match that season as Pakistan toured Australia and hosted Sri Lanka, which was the first Test series to be played in Pakistan after the events of 2009. That was also the only season after 2015 when Babar played more than one domestic first-class match in a season.
There have been calls for Pakistan regulars to feature more often in domestic first-class tournaments because of Pakistan’s abysmal run in Test cricket and ICC tournaments in recent years. There is also an element of compulsion as the PCB central contracts mandate players in categories A (Test specialists) and AB (Test and ODI specialists) to feature in at least six and four first-class matches respectively in a year. Players in the BC category, which is for white-ball specialists (ODI and T20I), are required to play at least two first-class matches.
Aamer Jamal joins MITS
Jamal will be the first Test cricketer in their team roster.
