If there was a part of Babar Azam that thought the Sydney Sixers might struggle without him, the Pakistani cricket great was proven very wrong on Friday night. Steve Smith starred again as the Sixers knocked off the defending champion Hobart Hurricanes to advance to Sunday night’s BBL final against the Perth Scorchers.
Smith made 65 off 43 balls, while Joel Davies blasted 27 off 12 as the Sixers made 198 while batting first. Mitchell Starc then starred with the ball, taking three wickets as the Hurricanes were bowled out for just 141.
Steve Smith and the Sydney Sixers surged into the BBL final without Babar Azam. Image: AAP/Getty
The Sixers will now take on the all-conquering Scorchers in the final, and will be quietly confident of causing an upset. The Sixers overcame the dramas surrounding Pakistan star Babar, who was sensationally called home on the eve of the Hurricanes game to prepare for the upcoming T20 series against Australia and the World Cup.
The writing appeared to be on the wall that the Sixers wouldn’t have picked Babar for the Hurricanes game anyway, after the opener struggled throughout the tournament and scored slowly. Mark Waugh had sensationally called for Babar to be axed before news emerged he was heading home.
The Sydney Sixers knocked off the BBL champion Hobart Hurricanes. (Photo by Matt King – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
(Cricket Australia via Getty Imag)Sydney Sixers surge into BBL final without Babar Azam
Many in Pakistan thought the Sixers were no hope of beating the Hurricanes without Babar, but they were proven very wrong. The Sixers scored freely on a pitch that didn’t appear to be coming on to the bat, and none of them got bogged down like Babar frequently did.
Daniel Hughes, who replaced Babar at the top of the order, only made 13 on Friday night. But he did it in 10 balls and didn’t chew up valuable deliveries from others.
Babar made 202 runs in his 11 matches at a strike rate of just 103.06 – the lowest ever of any player to have made at least 200 runs in a Big Bash season. It would have been a hard watch for the Test superstar to see the Sixers thrive without him, vindicating calls for him to be axed.
“It was obviously pretty unfortunate timing and seeing him go, but he was great to have around the group,” Davies said of Babar after the game. “He’ll be missed. Setting a total of 198, we knew it should definitely be enough. To put a performance on like that with the ball, it was awesome.”