Salman Iqbal: “We wanted him to bat at number three, but he was not ready to change his role. That’s why we had no choice but to release him”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Karachi Kings owner Salman Iqbal has revealed that the decision to release Pakistan batsman Babar Azam stemmed from his refusal to bat at number three.
He noted that Azam “was not ready to change his role”, which left the Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise with “no choice but to release him”.
The 30-year-old is now captaining the Peshawar Zalmi and in the 2025 PSL, he amassed 288 runs in 10 matches, which included three fifties, at an average of 36 and a strike-rate of 128.57.
“We wanted him to bat at number three, but he was not ready to change his role. That’s why we had no choice but to release him,” Iqbal was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Even though he had a decent campaign in PSL 10, Azam was not selected for Pakistan’s three-match T20I series against Lahore, which the men in green won 3-0.
Pakistan Squad for Bangladesh T20I Series: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Abbas Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hassan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wicketkeeper), Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan (wicketkeeper) and Saim Ayub
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Salman should stop middling with sportsmen because by not accepting Baber choice for batting order he has exhibited his attitude towards them which is absolutely incorrect.