On Friday, the Big Bash League experienced a bizarre incident when Steve Smith refused to run as Babar Azam wanted a single in the last ball of an over and that took a tense turn in the Sydney Thunder's and Sydney Sixers clash. After that Babar Azam got out in the very next ball he played was seen to be fuming after his dismissal. Smith later opened up about the case and said that the decision was tactical and after that in the very next over Smith hammered four sixes and one four, gathering 29 runs.
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In the sixers innings when every player played with a 150+ strike rate Babr Azam was playing with a run a ball strike rate, he scored 47 runs in 39 balls in which 28 runs came with boundaries. Smith hammered 100 runs in 42 balls with 9 sixes and 5 fours.
What did Smith say after the match?
Smith justified the decision hammering four sixes in one over. Speaking to Channel 7 Smith said, "We spoke at the ten-over mark, and they [the captain and coach] said take the surge straightaway, I was like, 'Nah, give it one over. I want to hit the short boundary. I don't want to screw up the first over. I'll try to get 30 off that over'. think we got 32, so it was a good result. Not sure Babar was too happy with me knocking back that single."
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The incident happened in the 11th over, when Babar Azam played three dot balls against Chris Green and then tried to run in the next ball but Smith denied it as he wanted to retain strike for the power surge as they took the floating powerplay in the 10th over.
However, the Sydney Sixers chased 191 runs in just 17.2 overs.
