Steve Smith on denying Babar Azam a single while batting, saying that he was ‘Not sure he was too happy’ about it.
‘Not sure he was too happy’ – Smith on denying Babar a single in BBL.
During their century partnership for the Sydney Sixers against the Sydney Thunder at the SCG on Friday night, Steve Smith and Babar Azam became tense when Smith prevented Babar from racing a single so that he could face the first over of the power surge.
Babar pushed the last delivery to long-on after playing three dot balls against Chris Green in the eleventh over, but Smith instructed him to stay put and said he wanted to take the surge—the two overs of powerplay limitations that may be used after the tenth over in the BBL. After 11 overs, Babar was 47 off 38 balls and Smith was 58 from 28 after Smith denied the single.
When the two briefly met mid-pitch in between overs, Babar didn’t seem to be impressed by Smith’s choice. Smith then took 32 runs off the first over of the surge against Ryan Hadley in the 12th over, including four straight sixes, making it the most costly over in BBL history.
On the last ball of the 12th over, Smith was hesitant to run a second but ultimately did. This meant that at the beginning of the thirteenth over, Babar had the strike against Nathan McAndrew. However, Babar was obviously upset as he walked off, hitting the boundary marker with his bat after edging an attempted heave beyond the line onto his stumps first ball.
Smith declined to speak to the media during the game, but in the post-match presentation, he briefly discussed the strategies behind his approach. Smith’s century came off 41 balls, and he was removed for 100 the next delivery.
“We spoke at the ten-over mark, and they [the captain and coach] said take the surge straightaway,” Smith told Channel 7. “I was like, ‘Nah, give it one over. I want to hit to the short boundary. I don’t want to screw up the first over. I’ll try to get 30 off that over’. [I] think we got 32, so it was a good result. Not sure Babar was too happy with me knocking back that single.”
While the players were mingling after the game, Babar was not seen on the outfield, however it was not immediately clear whether he would finally appear.
Although he was not aware of the conversations, Mitchell Starc, who participated in his first BBL match in eleven years, claimed that hitters’ favoured matchups were typical in Twenty20 cricket.
“I didn’t actually see it,” he said. “I kind of heard something from someone else just before, but I haven’t seen it. So [I] might have to go and have a look, and make an opinion from there. I mean it’s part of T20 cricket if you see a match-up you like [that]. Clearly he [Smith] did, and took it for 34 [32] or something like that.
“That’s what we want in the surge. We’ve kind of seen it with teams retiring batters as well – you see a match-up that might be better or whatever it may be. So, yes, Smithy must have liked that match-up, and took him on.”