Sydney Sixers have been strengthened by the return of their Australian stars Steve Smith and Mitchell Starc. Smith, who has been given the opportunity to open the innings with Babar Azam, has not had the best chemistry as an opening partner.
The Sydney Sixers are a very promising team in the history of the Big Bash League, having won it on several occasions. However, this time in the 15th edition of the competition, they have managed only 4 wins from 8 matches and are placed fifth on the points table.
In the 9th match and their second Sydney derby against the Sydney Thunder team, the Sixers marked the return of many of their key players. Steve Smith has made a comeback after the end of the Ashes, while Mitchell Starc has returned to BBL after 11 years. On the other hand, Sam Curran has also joined the Sixers after winning the ILT20 with Desert Vipers.
Steve Smith and Babar Azam faltered as David Warner bowled the ball straight over the bowler’s head
When Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder faced each other for the second time in this edition of BBL, Thunder captain David Warner stood strong with the bat. Warner scored his third century for Thunder in the match.
When he was batting on 82, he hit the ball just behind the head of off-spinner Ben Manenti and the ball went straight as an arrow. Steve Smith and Babar Azam, deployed at long-off and long-on, ran to stop the ball, but Azam did not dive even though he could have easily stopped the ball from going into the fence.
The other fielder, Steve Smith, considered one of the most acrobatic fielders in Australian history, was surprised by the Pakistani’s lack of sufficient effort and could not stop himself from expressing his disappointment towards his fellow cricketer.
Steve Smith showed his intentions in BBL, taught fielding tricks to Babar Azam
Steve Smith never fails to surprise fans, but this time he has really surprised Babar Azam. The great Australian player, who spread immense energy and enthusiasm on the field, taught Babar Azam a lesson in fielding in the last balls of that over.
Smith ran down the boundary line and intercepted a ball which was cleared by Nick Maddinson, but this time to Smith. He dived, intercepted the ball, got to his feet and then threw it back to restrict the batsmen to just 2 runs.
During that time, Babar Azam blocked Steve Smith’s vision and did not bother to make a joint effort with the Australian to pick up the ball and throw it back. Instead, the commentator shouted, “Get out of the way, Babar!”
“Get out of the way, Babar!” ???
How about these incidents with Steve Smith and Babar Azam? #bbl15 pic.twitter.com/Tnve7qNZvx
– KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) 16 January 2026
Smith and Babar gave a great start to Sydney Sixers in the powerplay.
Babar Azam and Steve Smith opened the innings for the Sydney Sixers, and the Australian has had some special seasons in the BBL over the years. Steve Smith is not only scoring runs at the top, but he has also scored runs at a very high strike rate.
Babar made a composed start to his innings, played in his style with a good strike rate, but what Steve Smith did at the other end was nothing but destruction. Till the time of writing the news, Smith was on 88* runs in only 35 balls and the innings also included 8 sixes.
The duo provided a flying start as Sydney Sixers scored 141 runs in 12.1 overs and needed just 49 more runs from 47 balls when Babar was finally out, just 3 runs short of his third BBL half-century.
Also read: David Warner completely destroys Mitchell Starc on BBL return after 11 years
