For the Pakistan Super League, Babar Azam will now lead the Peshawar Zalmi instead of Wahab Riaz

The Pakistani batting sensation Babar Azam will take over as captain of the Peshawar Zalmi team for the upcoming season of the Pakistan Super League. Wahab Riaz will step down from his position (PSL).

According to ESPNcricinfo, the club launched a metamorphosis in 2021 with the goal of building a new core after acquiring Babar from the Karachi Kings in exchange for Shoaib Malik and Haider Ali. This happened when the club traded Shoaib Malik and Haider Ali for Babar.

Since the beginning of the league in 2016, Zalmi has had one of the most loyal fan bases of any team in the league. Up until Hasan’s departure a year ago, Daren Sammy, Hasan Ali, Kamran Akmal, and Wahab Riaz all sported the identical colour scheme.

However, there have been a few hiccups, such as a misunderstanding with Akmal and the mid-season benching of their captain Sammy in order to hire him as a coach. Both of these incidents occurred because of a breakdown in communication.

Zalmi has had a consistent run since their championship win in 2017, making it to the finals in 2018, 2019, and 2021 as well as the eliminator in both 2020 and 2022. In 2017, Zalmi won the title. Wahab has been an indispensable member of the team.

The team decided to keep him on the roster despite the fact that he had the most wickets in the league.

However, at the age of 37, his influence on the game isn’t quite as significant as it once was. Earlier on in this year, he was demoted from the platinum PSL player level to the diamond PSL player category. Akmal, who is 40 years old, has been set free.

Zalmi is holding a player draught on December 15 in Karachi for the Pakistan Super League (PSL), and they are seeking for 11 players. They have already signed the hard-hitting batter Mohammad Haris and have kept Sherfane Rutherford, Aamir Jamal (Brand Ambassador), Salman Irshad, and Tom-Kohler Cadmore on the team. In addition to Babar.

The Pakistan Super League journey of Babar began in 2016 with Islamabad United, however the club released him after just two games in the first season. Since the following year, he has been playing for Karachi Kings, where he has dominated the charts with an average of 43.60 and a strike rate of 121.97 on his way to being the tournament’s highest scorer with 2413 runs scored over the course of 68 matches.

However, his relationship with the company began to deteriorate, and while he was the manager of the squad, they went through a terrible stretch in which they lost nine out of 10 games. Imad Wasim will take his place at the helm of the kings.

The dates for the PSL 2023 tournament are February 9 through March 19. Because to Covid-19, the matches will take place in four different cities: Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi, and Multan. This is an increase over the previous two seasons, when just two cities (Lahore and Karachi) hosted the competition.