Melbourne [Australia], January 1 : A fine half-century from Babar Azam and a three-wicket haul by pacer Sean Abbott helped Sydney Sixers seal a six-wicket win over Melbourne Renegades during their Big Bash League (BBL) New Year's clash on Thursday.
Billed as a contest between two Pakistani stalwarts, Renegades' Mohammed Rizwan and Sixers' Babar, it was the latter who came out on top, scoring his second half-century of the season.
Sixers' skipper Moises Henriques put Melbourne to bat first. Jack Edwards, the recent Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) pick in the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction, continued his fine run, removing the danger man Tim Seifert for a nine-ball six. While a 44-run stand between Josh Brown (43 in 19 balls, with three fours and four sixes) and skipper Rizwan (6), with Josh doing the bulk of the scoring, Renegades were pushed two steps back with the removal of these two openers, leaving them at 61/3 in 6.4 overs.
Jake Fraser-McGurk (38 in 29 balls, with four boundaries) and Hassan Khan (39 in 29 balls, with a four and three sixes) fought hard, taking Renegades to a modest 164/9 in 20 overs.
Abbott (3/16) delivered a tight four-over spell for the Sixers. Recent Punjab Kings IPL buy, Ben Dwarshuis (2/47) and Hayden Kerr (2/40) were also among the wickets.
Sixers started off the chase with a 46-run opening stand between Babar and Daniel Hughes (30 in 23 balls, with two fours and a six). But Will Sutherland (1/27) and Gurinder Sandhu (2/23) pushed the Sixers back with two quick wickets, reducing them to 66/2 in 8.5 overs.
Babar, who scored a 46-ball 58*, with eight fours and a six, had a 42-run stand with skipper Henriques (23 in 18 balls, with a four and two sixes), taking Sixers beyond the 100-run mark. Some fireworks from Joel Davies (34* in 15 balls, with three fours and two sixes) and his half-century stand with Babar took Sixers to a six-wicket win with five balls left.
Abbott took home the 'Player of the Match' prize. In five matches, Babar has scored 129 runs in five innings at an average of 32.25, with a strike rate of around 117, with two half-centuries.