Tension between Babar and Smith taints the duo’s 141-run partnership

After Babar Azam and Steve Smith were denied putting on a full show in their previous game due to rain, the duo managed to make up for the time lost by going full throttle against the Sydney Thunder. Chasing 190, Babar and Smith stitched up a match-winning 141-run opening stand, but by the end of it, things turned a tad ugly.

Smith denied Babar a single

It was the end of the eleventh over when Smith denied Babar a single in a bid to have the strike next over, when he was planning to take the power surge, an additional two powerplay-like overs that can be taken anytime after the tenth over. When both batters met in the middle at the end of the over, Babar, who was batting at 47 off 38 balls at that time, was seemingly unhappy with being denied the chance to bat in the surge. 

Smith, however, rightly backed himself as he smacked 32 runs off the first surge over, including four consecutive sixes, making it the most expensive over in the Big Bash League’s (BBL) history. When Babar eventually came on strike in the next over, an inside edge flew off his bat to uproot his leg stump. 

The Pakistan batter walked off furiously, striking the boundary cushion on his way out. Smith stayed for another few balls before he was stumped by the Thunder keeper Sam Billings off Tanveer Sangha. However, by then the chase was nearly over, and even the Sixers’ mini-collapse couldn’t turn things against them. 

Babar’s pedestrian season

While Babar Azam has scored two fifties this edition of the BBL, both his strike rate and average have been middling at best. His fellow Pakistan batter, Mohammad Rizwan, who plays for Melbourne Renegades, was retired out the other day in a bid to accelerate the run-scoring. 

The Sixers won the game by five wickets, which puts them back in the top four. Their next and final match is against the Brisbane Heat, which will be a virtual knockout as both teams are fighting for fourth place to move to the next round. 

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