Former Pakistan captain and top-order batsman Babar Azam has become the first player in the world to have topped the scoring charts of a particular franchise league for 3 seasons. Azam finished as the highest run-scorer of PSL 9, scoring 569 runs at an average of 56.90 for his side Peshawar Zalmi. He captained the franchise to the knockout rounds of the tournament where they crashed out from the Eliminator 2 stage.
Babar Azam’s positive form is a good sign for the Pakistan National team who will be hoping for him to fire in the same way as he did during PSL 9. The Green Army is also likely to go through a captaincy change before the tournament after Shaheen Afridi’s first assignment in New Zealand ended with a score line of 4-1 in a 5-match T20I series.
Babar Azam’s PSL 9 season as it went
Even though Babar Azam will be gutted not to have reached the final of PSL 9 under his captaincy, despite having 2 chances on their plate he will be happy with his performance. This was the Pakistani star batter’s most prolific season with the bat in terms of runs as well as his highest score.
His season began with a bang against his former club Karachi Kings against whom he scored 72 runs off 51 balls but in a losing cause. The Kings had defeated Peshawar by 7 wickets in their opening match. Then in the 2nd match against this season’s eventual runners-up Multan Sultans, Babar Azam scored just 31 runs but the Zalmis claimed victory by 5 runs.
Babar Azam narrowly missed out on his half-century in Peshawar’s 3rd match against 2023 champions Lahore Qalandars, scoring 48 off 36 with his side winning by 8 runs. His knocks in the first 3 matches were building up for something big and in his 4th match against Islamabad United, Azam scored his highest individual score in PSL history with 111* off 63 with Peshawar again winning by 8 runs.
In the very next match which was a reverse fixture against Islamabad, Azam got out for a golden duck with his performance also affecting Peshawar’s result in the match as they lost by 29 runs. Then he had back-to-back 3 fifty-plus scores during wins against Multan Sultans, Quetta Gladiators, and Karachi Kings, scoring 64, 53, and 51 respectively.
However, Babar Azam’s form dipped severely when Peshawar Zalmi needed him the most. He happened to take the back seat during the Qualifier and Eliminator 2 match against Multan and Islamabad. Against the Sultans, Babar scored a 42-ball 46 at a poor strike rate of 109.52, and against United, he lost his wicket through a soft dismissal for 25.
With that, Peshawar Zalmi’s PSL 9 season came to an end and despite finishing 2nd in the league stage and being named as title contenders, Babar Azam and Co. left the tournament with sheer disappointment.
Meanwhile, in the final of PSL 9 last night at the National Stadium in Karachi, Islamabad United defeated Multan Sultans by 2 wickets to claim their 2nd PSL title.
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