The Sydney Sixers signed him before next week’s player draft so that Babar Azam will play in the Big Bash for the first time.
The previous captain of the country and the second-highest run scorer in T20 international history will be able to play the entire 2025–26 season.
Babar Azam is set to make his Big Bash League debut with the Sydney Sixers.
Babar, who is 30 years old, has played 320 T20 games across various leagues worldwide. Most recently, he scored the most runs for Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League.
But he wasn’t picked for Pakistan’s most recent T20 encounter against Bangladesh.
“It’s a great chance to play in one of the world’s best Twenty20 competitions and to be a part of such a strong and respected franchise,” Babar said.
The Sixers finished second in the 2024–25 season, but they lost both of their playoff games. First to the Hobart Hurricanes and then to their rivals, the Sydney Thunder.
Each team can sign one foreign player before Thursday’s draft.
The Sixers were the only men’s team that hadn’t signed a foreign player. Jamie Overton, Chris Jordan, Tom Curran, and Sam Billings, all from England, were already signed to other teams.
Some of the players who have signed up for the draft include the English duo of Jacob Bethell and Ollie Pope, both of whom made their league debut last season.
Both of them could have been retained by the teams that previously hired them. The Melbourne Renegades or the Adelaide Strikers, with one more player from each team’s draft picks still available.
Amy Jones, Alice Capsey, Dani Gibson, Heather Knight, Sophie Ecclestone, and Danni Wyatt-Hodge are all potential women’s players who could remain on the team, as no English players have been signed yet.
There are some new names in the draft. They are Sam Curran and Lauren Bell from England, and Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan, and Shadab Khan from Pakistan.
The Sydney Sixers make headlines for signing Babar Azam.
The Sydney Sixers of the Big Bash League (BBL) have released a teaser video featuring Pakistan’s star batter, Babar Azam, and hinting at a major announcement.
The team’s official social media pages posted a promotional video that seems to show Babar in a possible Sixers jersey. This made fans excited and led to rumours about his BBL start.
The franchise is likely to make the official terms of Babar’s deal public.
This possible signing comes before the foreign players draft for BBL Season 15, which is set for June 19.
Cricket Australia (CA) just released the first list of international players who are qualified for the draft.
The list includes well-known Pakistani cricketers like Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf, and Mohammad Rizwan.
England’s Sam Curran and Alex Hales, New Zealand’s Lockie Ferguson and Tim Southee, Sri Lanka’s Kusal Perera, and the West Indies’ rising fast bowler Shamar Joseph were also on the first 10-player pick list.
The BBL and WBBL drafts have been moved up to June for the first time to help teams plan their teams early.
Cricket Australia reports that over 600 players from other countries have expressed interest in participating in the upcoming season.
The Brisbane Heat will have the first pick in the BBL draft, and the Sydney Sixers will have the first pick in the WBBL draft.
There will be four rounds in each draft, and in each round, teams will pick one person.
Each player will be paid in Platinum (Rounds 1-2), Gold (Rounds 2-3), Silver (Rounds 3–4), and Bronze (Round 4 only).
On the other hand, on Tuesday, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) gave No Objection Certificates (NOCs) to 13 national cricketers.
These included senior stars Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, and Shaheen Shah Afridi, who let them play in different foreign franchise leagues.
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