Babar Azam's poor season with Sydney Sixers worsened after the Sydney Derby fixture against Sydney Thunder on Friday (January 16). Babar produced a 39-ball 47 during Sixers' five-wicket win but hogged the limelight for all the wrong reasons. In a game where his opening partner Steve Smith smashed a series of records, Babar himself was at the forefront of unintentional comedy.
The major incident happened during the 141-run opening stand between Smith and Babar in the run chase. After struggling to rotate strike in the 11th over, Babar tried to get a single down to long-on off the final delivery, only for Smith to reject that call. Not only did Smith deny the single, but instantly gestured for the Power Surge (two-over batting powerplay) to be taken.
Smith capitalised on that instantly, smashing a record-breaking 32-run over in the first over of the surge, making it the most expensive over in BBL history. However, Babar's reaction to the single being denied was of a visibly angry man and to rub salt into the Pakistan star's wounds, he fell off the first ball he faced in the surge.
As Babar was walking off the field, he took out his frustration near the boundary rope by slamming his bat at the fencing on his way back to the dugout. Earlier in the game, there were two other comical incidents, which is also featured Smith and Babar. The first of them saw the duo running in from long-on and long-off respectively to stop the ball, only for the ball to go past them.
Arguably, it was Babar's responsibility to stop it as it was nearer to him, even as Smith was racing across to his left. This incident almost happened again soon after, this time with the players on opposite sides but Smith managed to make a regulation stop. While these two incidents were low-key, Babar's outbursts while batting and after his dismissal were both well-documented.
According to sources close to the Sixers camp, the next two days could be critical to Babar's future at the Sixers. Will they drop him for the next game? Or, worse, will they sack him? All this seems premature at this point but the Pakistan batter does seem in line for a disciplinary outcome.
More updates will be available within the next 48 hours.