Babar Azam exposed! Crawls at 64.29 strike rate while opening with Steve Smith in BBL before washout

Pakistan batter Babar Azam was not picked for the Sri Lanka series; hence, he continued his stay with the BBL franchise Sydney Sixers, but the slow strike rate remains a constant threat for the veteran batter. Opening the innings alongside Steve Smith, Azam's strike rate dropped to below 65 on a tricky Sydney surface.

Pakistan's star batter Babar Azam made his Big Bash League debut in the 2025-26 season after an NOC from the PCB. The Pakistan players playing in other leagues is an approach from the PCB to draw more players to the PSL.

Babar, alongside Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Afridi, Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf, and many more, were among the Pakistan players picked to star in the BBL. Speaking of Babar Azam, he has not had the finest of form in the BBL, with the ICC T20 World Cup knocking at the doorstep.

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Babar Azam crawls at 64.29 on the tricky Sydney surface

The Sydney Sixers have not benefited from Babar Azam's inclusion to any large extent. Yet they have handed him an opportunity throughout the entire stretch of the series. Having played for Sydney, he got a new opening partner in Steve Smith, who returned following a successful Ashes campaign.

Azam, alongside Steve Smith, found it difficult to play under conditions that favoured extremes of lateral movement. Though Smith got some shots off the middle and scored 19 off 16 balls with a four and a six with a strike rate of 118.75, Babar Azam, on the other hand, failed to release the pressure as well.

Having made just 9 off 14 balls in a T20 game is awful by the standard of the World's most successful T20I batter, who is the highest scorer in the format. With a strike rate of 64.29, Babar failed to speed up as rain played the spoilsport in Sydney.

Babar Azam has displayed awful form in the BBL

The Pakistan veteran has been in awful form in the Big Bash League. Before coming into the BBL, he played a crucial hand for Pakistan against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in the tri-series, but failed to be consistent.

While Babar was expected to get back the lost consistency, he faltered further under the bouncy conditions of Australia. In 8 matches, the batter would manage 154 runs with an average of 25.66 and a very low strike rate of less than 120.

Though he has two half-centuries, one against Thunder and the other against Renegades, both in winning causes for Sydney Sixers, he has failed to reach double digits 5 times in the 8 games

Will Babar be removed from the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 squad?

Babar Azam has been picked in the Pakistan ICC T20 World Cup provisional squad that has been submitted to the ICC. However, he has not been picked for the three-match series in Sri Lanka and has not been confirmed for the home series against Australia as well.

Azam is not only a T20 veteran but also a huge name in Pakistan cricket, which means he will be monumental for them in the ICC T20 World Cup. However, the message still seems to be that if Babar continues this disgusting form, then he can be snubbed from the World Cup squad as well, resembling what had happened in the Asia Cup.

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