Pakistan batter Babar Azam has been under the scanner for quite a while due to his below-par performances across formats. In particular, he drew a lot of flak for his failure during the recently held ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
The right-hander looked far from his best in the showpiece tournament as he played a turtle-paced knock of 64 (90 balls) against New Zealand in a 321-run chase, and followed it with 23 off 26 balls during Pakistan’s six-wicket loss to India.
After Pakistan’s group-stage exit from the Champions Trophy, many fans, experts and former cricketers called for Babar’s snub from the national team.
In fact, Babar was dropped from Pakistan's T20I side for the New Zealand tour last month. He is currently in the midst of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2025 season, where he is performing poorly for the Peshawar Zalmi. He has scored just 0 and 1 in his first two matches, with Zalmi languishing at the bottom of the points table.
Amid his struggles, PSL franchise Karachi Kings owner Salman Iqbal has extended his support to Babar Azam, making bold predictions about his comeback in the near future.
"I am telling you. Mark my words, when Babar Azam makes a comeback again, he will be a bigger player than any other player in the world, including Virat Kohli. He will be matched with names like Garry Sobers and Sir Viv Richards," Iqbal said while speaking on ARY podcast.
"He has that class element. When someone has class.... Class is permanent, you can't change that. Style is always permanent. He will come back...he will come back with a bang. We wanted him to bat at number three, but he was not ready to change his role. The management decided to have a complete overhaul of the squad. That's why we let Babar, Imad Wasim, and Mohammad Amir go," Iqbal added.
Salman Iqbal also explained the reasons behind Babar Azam's departure from Karachi Kings, where he played from 2017 to 2022 and contributed to their triumph in 2020.
"When we [Karachi Kings] made our line-up heavily reliant on our openers, we requested Babar Azam to bat at number three. But he was keen to play as an opener as he was established there and was not comfortable playing one-down. That's when the management decided to have a complete overhaul," he stated.
