A scintillating century partnership between Steve Smith and Babar Azam in Sydney Sixers’ BBL clash against Sydney Thunder at the SCG on Friday took a dramatic turn when Smith chose to deny a single to Babar during the key power surge. The decision briefly sparked visible frustration from Babar, but it ultimately paid dividends as the Sixers secured a five-wicket win. The incident occurred in the 11th over when Babar, on 47 off 38 balls, looked to take a single after three dot balls from Chris Green. Smith turned him down to retain the strike for the BBL’s two-over ‘floating’ powerplay, aimed at maximizing scoring potential. Babar appeared visibly upset during a brief mid-pitch interaction at the end of the over.
Smith justified the decision with a record-smashing display in the power surge, hitting four consecutive sixes off Ryan Hadley in the first over—marking the most expensive over in BBL history. He finally took a single off the last ball to hand Babar the strike against Nathan McAndrew in the 13th over, but Babar was dismissed first ball, leaving the field visibly frustrated. Reflecting on the strategy, Smith told Channel 7, “We spoke at the ten-over mark, and they [the captain and coach] said take the surge straightaway. I was like, ‘Nah, give it one over. I want to hit to the short boundary. I don’t want to screw up the first over. I’ll try to get 30 off that over’. I think we got 32, so it was a good result. Not sure Babar was too happy with me knocking back that single.” Babar was not seen on the field after the match, though it was unclear if he later made an appearance. Mitchell Starc, making his first BBL appearance in 11 years, said he had not noticed the episode but explained that, like bowlers, batters often favour specific match-ups in T20 cricket. Despite the brief tension, the tactical move worked perfectly for the Sixers, with Smith going on to score a 41-ball century and lead his side to victory.