Babar Azam walks back dejected to the pavilion.
Credit: Screengrab
There was no dearth of drama around Babar Azam and Steve Smith in the Big Bash League's (BBL) match between Sydney Thunder Vs Sydney Sixer.
It was a high scoring match where Sydney Thunder while batting first scored 189 for six with the help of trademark David Warner century (110 off 65) and a useful innings of 26 off 16 balls from Nic Maddison.
While chasing, Sydney Sixers, managed to reach the target in 17.2 overs and highlight was Steve Smith's 100 off 42 balls. But some moments from the match have gone viral.
First one was when Sidney Sixers were fielding the a shot from David Warner went in the long-off direction and both Steve Smith and Babar Azam seemed interested in stopping the ball. Babar did not put in a dive and Smith looked confused as everyone thought the boundary could have been stopped.
The very next ball again travelled in the same direction and this time it was Smith who actually stopped the ball and while he was about to throw it back, Pakistan batter again came in way. This time it was not a boundary but confusion was very much evident. Even commentators joked - 'Babar, get out of the way.'
Second such moment came when Smith denied a single to Babar on the last ball of the over as he wanted to take the strike on the first ball of the next over.
It looked like that Azam said something to Smith after that and when he was dismissed he was very animated and expressed his displeasure while out.
It is worth mentioning that in this edition of BBL, other Pak stars have also been in news for some odd reasons.
In one of the matches Shaheen Afridi was removed from bowling mid-over. Wicketkeeper-Batter Mohammed Rizwan was retired allegedly due to his slow innings. In the same match Adam Gilchrist was heard saying that Rizwan plays T20 in Test style.