ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s all format captain Babar Azam has said he prefers the Big Bash League, Australia’s professional club Twenty20 cricket league, over the Indian Premier League due to fast pitches that preferred bowlers.
Aside from the inaugural season in 2008, which took place during a brief political detente between diplomatic rivals India and Pakistan, no player representing Pakistan has taken part in the IPL.
Pakistan and India, arch-rivals and neighbors, have not held a bilateral series since 2012-13.
In a podcast this week, when asked if he preferred IPL or Big bash, Azam picked the Australian series.
“The conditions are different, as they say there are one of the fastest conditions in Australia and you get to learn a lot, it’s good cricket,” Azam said about Big Bash.
In the IPL, he said, you got “Asian conditions” that were better for batting.
Pakistani players like Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain and Shadab Khan have recently proved their mettle at the BBL. Babar hasn’t played the series so far.
Pakistani bowlers make up five of the 13 highest wicket-takers in T20 history. The country’s own domestic league, the Pakistan Super League, has gradually managed to build itself into one of the world’s leading competitions.
Pakistan’s cricketers were also absent from the auction list last month as several of the world’s top women cricketers earned hundreds of thousands of dollars for their services in the inaugural Women’s Premier League in India.
