Steve Smith recently explained the moment when he refused to take a single from teammate Babar Azam during a tense Big Bash League match at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Both were opening for the Sydney Sixers and had already put together a strong 141-run partnership against the Sydney Thunder. The incident happened in the 11th over when Babar faced three dot balls from spinner Chris Green and then pushed the last delivery towards long-on for what looked like a simple run. Smith, standing at the non-striker’s end, quickly signaled Babar to stay back, insisting that he wanted to keep the strike.
Smith later revealed that his decision was connected to the Power Surge rule in the BBL, where teams get two overs with only two fielders allowed outside the circle. He wanted to take advantage of the shorter boundary in the next over and believed he could score big if he faced the bowling immediately.
The tactic worked exactly as he planned. When Ryan Hadley came in to bowl the following over, Smith went on a brutal attack, smashing four consecutive sixes, then a boundary, and also gaining runs through extras. The Sixers collected a massive 32 runs in that single over, which became the highest over total in BBL history and completely changed the momentum of the match.
Speaking after the game to Channel 7, Smith said that at the 10-over break, both the captain and coach advised him to take the Surge right away. However, he requested one more over before activating it because he wanted to target the shorter boundary.
Smith recalled telling them, “Give it one over, I want to hit to the short boundary and try for 30 off it.” The plan worked even better than expected, and he said with a smile that Babar might not have been too pleased initially when he was denied the single.
Babar’s frustration soon became visible. When he returned to strike in the 13th over, he tried to play Nathan McAndrew but ended up edging the ball onto his stumps. He walked back after scoring 47 off 39 balls and showed his disappointment by hitting his bat against the soft boundary cushion on the rope.
Although the moment was emotional, Smith’s explosive century off just 41 balls led the Sixers to an easy win while chasing the target, helping them secure a comfortable five-wicket victory and strengthening their position in the tournament.