Babar Azam was not interested to play in The Hundred 2022 - Reports

Pakistan captain Babar Azam surprisingly went unsold at the Men's Hundred 2022 Draft yesterday in the UK. Fans were shocked to see Babar not receiving any contracts, but a report has now emerged, claiming that he was himself not keen to play due to Pakistan's international assignments.

The star batter was among the few players placed in the highest category of £125,000 for the Men's Hundred 2022 Draft. Eight teams participated in the event, but not one signed the World No. 1 T20I batter.

According to The News, Babar never expressed his desire to be a part of The Hundred competition. He wished to stay fresh for international matches, which is why there was minimal interest for his services at the draft last night.

“Babar Azam never applied for the NOC for the English summer-that means he is not interested despite being one of the few overseas who are bracketed among the top category," a source told The News.

"He could have walked easily in any team as every English county was looking forward to luring him. Yet he preferred to stay away from hectic commitments more in order to concentrate fully on the national summer commitment," the source added.

Babar Azam will play a lot of international cricket later this year

After a hectic home season where Pakistan played against West Indies and Australia, besides hosting the PSL, the team is scheduled to play many international matches in the second half of the year.

Babar Azam is the captain of the Pakistan cricket team in all three formats (Image Courtesy: Getty Images)

West Indies will tour Pakistan for an ICC Cricket World Cup Super League series in June. It will be followed by Pakistan's tour of the Netherlands in July and an away series against Sri Lanka during the same period.

Post the bilateral assignments, Pakistan will participate in the Asia Cup T20 and ICC T20 World Cup. It will be interesting to see how Azam and Co. perform in their international matches.