MELBOURNE: Star batsman Babar Azam made a match-winning haul to lead Sydney Sixers to a six-wicket win over Melbourne Renegades in the ongoing Big Bash League (PBL) Match 18 at the Docklands Stadium on Thursday.
Batting first, the Renegades were restricted to 164-9 in 20 overs thanks to opener Josh Brown’s brilliant 43 off 19 balls, including 3 fours and 4 sixes.
Middle-order batsman Jake Fraser-McCurg scored 38 off 29 balls with 4 fours, while Hasan Khan added 39 off 29 balls with 1 four and 3 sixes.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan’s struggles continued in the match as he was dismissed for a cheap six off 10 balls.
For the Sixers, Sean Abbott led the bowling, taking three wickets for 16 runs in four overs. Jack Edwards, Ben Twarshuis and Hayden Kerr took 2 wickets each.
Chasing 165 runs, Sydney Sixers reached the target with the loss of 4 wickets in 19.1 overs. Babar Azam continued the innings with an unbeaten 58 off 46 balls with 4 fours and a six.
Opener Daniel Hughes scored 30 off 23 balls including 2 fours and a six, while Joel Davies remained unbeaten on 34 off 15 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes.
The win took the Sydney Sixers to sixth on the BBL points table with 15 wins and three losses from five games, amassing four points with a net run-rate of 0.202.
Melbourne Renegades are seventh with one win and three losses from four games, two points and a net run-rate of -0.879.