Babar Azam falls for single digits on highly anticipated BBL debut

Pakistan’s star batter Babar Azam had a disappointing Big Bash League (BBL) debut, scoring just 2 runs off 5 balls in the opening match against the Perth Scorchers at Optus Stadium in Australia on Sunday.

The right-handed batter opened for the Sixers but lost his partner, Daniel Hughes, on the second delivery. Cooper Connolly gave the home side an early breakthrough.

Babar eventually got the strike on the last delivery of the first over and sensibly blocked an angling delivery from Connolly.

He struggled for runs in the next over as he defended a length delivery by Joel Paris before surviving a scare when he short-arm-jabbed a hard-length delivery, but could not get the momentum as the ball floated briefly before falling between the fielders stationed at mid-wicket and mid-on.

The 31-year-old finally scored on the fourth delivery of his BBL career, awkwardly launching a length ball between extra cover and sweeper cover for two runs.

Brody Couch, however, drew curtains on his knock with a hard-length delivery which got big on the star batter, who could not clear the mid-on, where Laurie Evans took a regulation catch.

Widely regarded as one of the finest batters of the modern era, Babar was roped in by the Sixers for the upcoming 15th edition of the BBL as a direct signing.

To bank on the star batter's fame, the Sixers launched a special fan zone in October, titled "Babaristan" to celebrate the 31-year-old's maiden stint in the BBL, while also allotting him a special three-digit jersey number, 056.