Perth: Pakistan’s star batsman Babar Azam failed to make his Big Bash League (PBL) debut memorable as he fell for 2 runs in five balls in a curtain-raiser against Perth Scorchers at the Optus Stadium here on Sunday.
The right-handed batsman opened the innings for a six, losing his partner Daniel Hughes on the second delivery of the innings as Cooper Connolly gave the home side an early lead.
Baber eventually got a strike off the last delivery of the first over and brilliantly blocked an angled delivery from Connolly.
In the next over he defended a length delivery from Joel Paris and fought for runs, escaping a scare when he short-arm-jabbed a hard-length delivery, but the ball floated for a while before falling between the fielders positioned at mid-wicket and mid-on.
The 31-year-old opened his account on the fourth delivery of his BBL career when he launched a length delivery between extra cover and sweeper cover to drive a couple.
Brody Koch, however, drew the curtains on his knock with a hard-length delivery that made the star batsman size up as he failed to clear mid-on, where Larry Evans took a disciplined catch.
Babar, widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of the modern era, was roped in by the Sixers to sign him directly for the upcoming 15th edition of the PBL.
To capitalize on the star batsman’s fame, the Sixers launched a special fan zone in October titled “Babaristan”, which also assigned him a special three-digit jersey number, 056, to celebrate the 31-year-old’s debut in the BBL.
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