Babar Azam Flops Again as Sydney Sixers Falter Against Melbourne Stars

Sydney: Babar Azam’s Big Bash League season continues to drift, and on Friday night at the Sydney Cricket Ground, the drift turned into another abrupt halt. Opening for the Sydney Sixers against Melbourne Stars, the Pakistan star lasted just seven balls before edging Tom Curran to slip, dismissed for two, and leaving behind more questions than answers.

From the moment he walked out, Babar looked short of rhythm. Curran immediately settled on a testing line outside off stump, shaping the ball away under lights that favoured the bowlers. Babar missed his first three deliveries entirely, tentative footwork replacing the certainty that has defined much of his international career. The pressure was obvious, just the quiet unease of a batter searching for timing.

Curran pushed one a fraction fuller, the ball swung late, and Babar, half-committed on the drive, could only offer a thick edge. Glenn Maxwell barely had to move at slip, and the dismissal was clean, clinical, and depressingly familiar.

The Bigger Picture

It was the third time in BBL 15 that Babar had fallen for a single-digit score, and it continued a stop-start campaign that has never quite found momentum. His debut against Perth Scorchers brought two runs from five balls. Against Adelaide Strikers, nine off eleven followed, and the lone bright spot, a composed half-century that carried the Sixers to their first win, now feels like an exception rather than a turning point.

What made Friday’s dismissal stand out was not just the score, but the manner. He was drawn into a mistake, prodded patiently until the edge came. In Australian conditions, where bowlers live off discipline and movement, that pattern has repeated itself too often.

There is no question about Babar’s class, and his international record speaks louder than any short-run domestic slump. But T20 leagues are unforgiving places, and reputation buys little time. 

At this stage of the tournament, Babar’s BBL story feels unresolved. One innings suggested he had turned a corner, while three others suggested otherwise. The Sixers will hope their opener finds clarity soon, because the margin between settling and spiralling in a competition like this is razor-thin.

For now, Babar Azam’s Big Bash remains a work in progress, and once again, was cut short far too early.