Babar Azam returns to domestic first-class cricket with OGDCL after the England whitewash

Pakistan's Test captain will play his first domestic first-class match since December 2019 after the PCB placed him with OGDCL as a guest player

Babar Azam is set to return to Pakistan's domestic first-class game for the first time in almost seven years, joining OGDCL as a guest player in the President's Trophy Grade-I. The Pakistan Cricket Board made the arrangement after Babar asked to be placed in a squad so he could keep playing red-ball cricket between Tests.

He last appeared in the domestic first-class competition on December 30, 2019, when he led Central Punjab to the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy title. His red-ball cricket since has been confined almost entirely to international duty.

The move follows Pakistan's 3-0 defeat in England, a series in which Babar passed fifty once in four innings and the tourists' top order was repeatedly worked over by the short ball.

How the move came about

OGDCL sports head Farah Batool confirmed the timing of his arrival. "Babar will arrive back in Pakistan from the UK on Sept 16 and will join the OGDCL squad the next day. His kit has been ordered," she said.

The board offered him to the department as a guest player, a route it has used increasingly to get contracted internationals back into the four-day game.

Whether he plays immediately is still open. "Babar will decide upon his arrival if he plays from the second match or the third match," Batool said, referring to OGDCL's fixtures against Kingsmen Academy from September 18 and Khan Research Laboratories on September 24.

A slump that dates back to 2022

Babar has not made a Test century since December 2022, when he scored 161 against New Zealand in Karachi. That was almost four years ago.

Since the start of 2023 he has averaged 30.43 in Tests, some 12.55 runs below his career mark, with eight half-centuries in 39 innings. One stretch ran 18 innings without him passing 41.

Four innings in England

Reappointed Test captain in July, Babar began the assignment with a 1-1 draw in the West Indies, where he was named player of the series after scoring 196 runs in two matches.

England was harder. He missed the opening Test at Headingley with a right-hand injury, then made 8 and 6 at Lord's and 7 in the first innings at Edgbaston.

His 76 from 103 balls in the second innings at Edgbaston was his one score of substance on the tour, and it came in a match England won to complete the sweep.

A side in trouble to walk into

OGDCL are having a difficult opening match of the tournament. Batting again after following on against PTV in Islamabad, they were 132 runs behind with seven wickets standing.

PTV made 400 and then bowled OGDCL out for 204, with Haris Rauf taking 5-34.

The department was relegated last season after finishing bottom of the eight-team table, and is back in Grade-I only because the PCB removed WAPDA and Sahir Associates for non-compliance.

Part of a wider domestic push

Babar is not the only senior international in the competition. ODI captain Shaheen Shah Afridi is playing for KRL, where he took 4-61 on his own domestic comeback, and T20I captain Salman Agha made an unbeaten triple-century for Kingsmen Academy.

PCB central contracts already oblige category A players, the Test specialists, to play at least six first-class matches a season, with four required of those in category AB.

Each side plays seven four-day matches in the group stage, with the top two meeting in the final from October 24.

Babar is due back in Pakistan on September 16 and will decide on arrival whether his comeback comes against Kingsmen Academy or KRL.

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