PERTH: Sydney Sixers captain Moises Henriques has revealed that Babar Azam was upset and needed several days to move on after Steve Smith denied him a single during his side’s must-win Big Bash League (BBL) 15 fixture.
During the Sydney Sixers’ clash against Brisbane Heat on Sunday, 18 January, Smith was keen to capitalize on the Power Surge over. Babar nudged the last ball of the 11th over to long on, but Smith opted not to run.
In the next over, Smith accumulated a record 32 runs from the over, including four sixes in a row.
Babar was dismissed in the next over and appeared visibly frustrated, striking the boundary cushion with his bat as he made his way back to the pavilion.
The ace batter remained in the dressing room for the remainder of the game and did not rejoin his teammates when players mingled on the outfield after the game.
Speaking ahead of the Sixers’ qualifier against Perth Scorchers, Henriques admitted that the incident took time to settle.
“It took a couple of days for that to settle down,” Henriques told Fox Cricket. “To be honest, think it’s just a bit of a misunderstanding of the culture of each other, ” he added.
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The skipper explained that such on-field decisions are common in Australian cricket culture and that Babar initially struggled to relate to it.
“It’s a pretty common thing in our culture, and maybe for him (Babar), he wasn’t used to it and didn’t quite understand.
Once it was explained to him, he was absolutely fine. They’ve kissed and made up, and it’s two of the greats back friendly again,” Henriques revealed.
He also confirmed that he, along with Sixers coach Greg Shipperd, spoke to Babar to help him move on from the incident.
“[We are] always trying to understand…we could visibly see he was quite upset with what happened on the field, so we needed to try and understand why he felt that way. Once we got to the bottom of it, it was okay,” he explained.
For the unversed, Babar Azam has endured a lean run in the tournament, managing just 202 runs in 11 matches at a strike rate of 103.06.
His poor run continued in the qualifier, where he was dismissed for a two-ball duck during the Sixers’ chase of 148 against the Scorchers in the BBL Qualifier.
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