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Babar Azam, Who Batted At No. 10 Once, Willing To Bat Anywhere For Peshawar In PSL 2025

Bhargav Dixit

Babar Azam has mostly opened the batting in the PSL. [Source: @CricAesthetics1/X]Babar Azam has mostly opened the batting in the PSL. [Source: @CricAesthetics1/X]

Peshawar Zalmi captain Babar Azam is willing to bat anywhere in the upcoming 10th season of the Pakistan Super League. Azam confirmed the development in a media interaction during PSL 10 draft in Lahore yesterday.

Been playing in the coveted tournament since its inaugural season in 2016, the right-handed batter has opened the batting 74 times out of 88 innings. While he has batted at No. 3 on 12 occasions, two innings have come at No. 4 – the last of both the instances coming seven years ago.

Across 33 innings as a captain for two franchises, Azam always played as an opener scoring 1,466 runs at an average and strike rate of 48.86 and 135.61 respectively which includes both his PSL hundreds.

Perhaps the question around Azam’s batting position would’ve come because of the presence of fellow openers in Zalmi’s PSL 2025 squad. For those who don’t know, the likes of Saim Ayub, Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Mohammad Haris are the remaining specialist openers.

“We have tried to retain the best players. Unfortunately, Aamer Jamal was picked earlier, but it’s important for players to showcase their talent on the field,” Babar said, as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.

“We aim to create a winning combination every time, and this year, we have worked on making the team even stronger. We’ve tried to pick the best players and always aim to stay energetic and fit. Personally, I am fully fit and ready for the season."

Having said that, PZ’s conundrum could diminish a bit primarily due to the uncertainty around Ayub’s participation. Assuming he regains optimum fitness before the season commences, one expects him and Azam, Peshawar’s PSL 9 opening pair, to face the new ball yet again.

While Kohler-Cadmore and Haris can be accommodated in the middle-order as well, Azam, in spite of his greatness in other formats, should stick to the opening role in the shortest format.

Babar Azam’s Second T20 Innings Had Come At No. 10

An accomplished top-order batter now, Babar Azam had batted as low as No. 10 in his second T20 outing as a batter. Having made his T20 debut at 18, Azam hadn’t got an opportunity to bat in the first match. While he scored a laboured 14 (18) at No. 5 in the second match, his 1* (1) in the following encounter had come at No. 10.

In what remains his lone T20 innings at the given position, he was then moved to No. 5 in what ended up becoming his last match of the season. Azam, who moved from Lahore Eagles in Faysal Bank T20 Cup 2012/13 to Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited in Advance Telecom Ramadan T20 Cup 2013, was given better opportunities from then onwards. Since then, the lowest he has batted in T20s is No. 5.