In Sydney Sixers' match against Sydney Thunder, Steve Smith took matters into his own hands during the power surge and unleashed a brutal display of hitting. The Australian superstar overruled Babar Azam’s call, kept the strike for himself, and went on to punish Ryan Hadley with four consecutive sixes in a single over.
Chasing 190 after Thunder icon David Warner blazed an unbeaten 110, the Sixers’ innings got off to a solid start following an aggressive partnership between Smith and teammate Babar Azam. The duo put on 141 together. However, the turning point came in the 11th over, when Smith took an unusual decision, denying Babar Azam a single on the final delivery.
Babar, who was batting impressively, appeared visibly frustrated and communicated his displeasure, but Smith’s gamble paid off. In the next over, Smith took a liking to Ryan Hadley, launching a brutal assault. He smashed four back-to-back sixes, accumulating 32 runs in a single over. Smith later defended his move.
"We spoke at the ten-over mark, and they said take the surge straightaway. 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," Smith told Channel 7.
Meanwhile, after being dismissed on the first ball of the following over by Nathan McAndrew, Babar expressed his displeasure by hitting the boundary cushion with his bat on his way back to the pavilion. He scored 47 off 39.