Pakistan’s former captain, Babar Azam, did not have a successful campaign for the Sydney Sixers in the 2025/26 season of the Big Bash League (BBL) as he returned two games before the end of the tournament for the franchise as the right handed batter prepared himself for the three match T20I series at home against Australia heading into the Men's T20 World Cup 2026.

Babar Azam continues to fail in the shortest format as he was dismissed leg before the stumps by Australia’s leg spinner, Adam Zampa, on 24 runs in 20 deliveries at a strike rate of 120 with the help of one boundary and one six. His first big shot was the boundary as he cleared his front leg and smashed Mahli Beardman over mid-off for a one-bounce four.

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On the very first delivery of the 14th over, Babar uses his feet and goes close to the pitch of the delivery against Zampa, and smashed it over long-on. He did not get it off the meat of the bag, which increased the interest in the fielder’s mind, who, in putting a chance for the catch, before seeing the ball sailing over the fence.

Babar Azam returns for 24 runs in 20 balls during PAK vs AUS 1st T20I

Three balls later, Zampa had his revenge as he sent back the batter LBW on 24 runs. It was a googly on the back of a line around the off stump, which turned a little bit as Babar switched his stance and tried to reverse sweep, but missed to get pinged on the pad. The umpire did not raise his finger at the primary position before the standing captain, Travis Head, asked for the review.

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babar azam 24(20) vs pakistan pic.twitter.com/hx3zc8qAqS

— Kh4N PCT (@Kh4N_PCT) January 29, 2026

The UltraEdge shows a clear gap between bat and ball before the ball tracking reveals three reds, and it would have crashed into a leg stump as Babar walked back to the dressing room after burning the review with the failure.

After losing their opening batter on the very first ball of the game, Pakistan recovered well thanks to a classic knock of 40 runs in just 22 deliveries from Saim Ayub, while their captain, Salman Agha, also contributed 39 runs in 27 deliveries at a strike rate of nearly 145.

Brief Scores: Pakistan 168/8 (Saim Ayub 40, Adam Zampa 4/24) vs Australia.