Babar Azam opposes his PSL franchise's decision to relegate him to diamond category

Babar Azam, who represents Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) has opposed the franchise’s decision to demote him to the diamond category. As a result, the franchise finds itself in a catch-22 situation. The 24-year old pulled out the initial request submitted by the Kings and said that he wants to remain in the platinum category.

Babar has been performing exceptionally well over the last month and has been catapulted himself to the No. 1 batsman in T20Is. According to source, the young batsman felt degraded after the Kings’ proposed request regarding his relegation given the fact that he is currently ranked the No. 1 international batsmen in the shortest format of the game.

“Karachi Kings had submitted a relegation request for Babar Azam to be part of diamond category, however, Azam has withdrawn the request stating that he would like to remain in the platinum category,” a source was quoted as saying by Geo News.

Player retaining conundrum

A riddle has now popped up in front of the franchise as far as the retention policy in the platinum category is concerned. The platinum players in the Karachi Kings ranks include Babar Azam, Mohammad Amir, Shahid Afridi, Colin Munro, and Colin Ingram. Every team is allowed to retain three players from the list, including one foreign player.

Had Azam agreed to the demotion, it would have become easier for the franchise to retain him along with Amir, Afridi and a foreign player in the roster.

The deadline for the relegation request has passed leaving the Kings no time for another request provided the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) allows them another opportunity. All the teams have till November 13th to confirm their player retention before a final list for the players draft is announced. The 2019 edition of PSL gets underway on 14th February.

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