Steve Smith denied Babar Azam single because he ‘brought his own value down with his game’: ‘If Virat Kohli wanted…’

The two batters shared a partnership of more than 100 runs, but it was Smith who was batting like a million bucks, scoring a century to help the Sixers chase down 190 with 16 balls to spare. On the other hand, Babar managed 47 runs, but he wasn't at his fluent best, looking to give strike to Smith most of the time as the batter was going hell for leather.

The call to deny Babar a single was vindicated a few balls later as he went on to smash 32 runs in the 12th over. However, the Pakistan batter ended up losing his wicket soon after, and it was then that he vented his frustration, smashing the boundary ropes in anger while making his way back to the dressing room.

Smith proved it next over. At one point, I thought he would hit 6 sixes in that over. If Virat Kohli had wanted to take this single like Babar Azam, Steve Smith ka baap bhi single leta!” Basit said on the YouTube show ‘Game Plan’.

“You have brought your own value down with your game. Pakistan’s name is not sullied by this. People who say that are fools. Babar went to play Big Bash because he was invited there, but the Pakistan cricket board didn’t send him," he added.

It is worth mentioning that when the visuals of Babar slamming his bat on the boundary cushion made their way to the television, former Australian batter Mark Waugh termed it as “not a good look”.

Even Mohammad Rizwan has been struggling with the bat, and in one fixture, the Melbourne Renegades batter was retired out when he struggled his way to 26 off 23 balls. With this, he came just the third batter in BBL history to be retired without an injury.

For several years, both Babar and Rizwan have been criticised for their slow strike rate in T20s and this even led to the duo being dropped from Pakistan's T20 squad. Rizwan remains on the sidelines but Babar recently earned a comeback into the squad and he's expected to be there in the T20 World Cup team as well.

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