MELBOURNE: Pakis­tan’s star batter Babar Azam will play in the Big Bash League for the first time after he was signed by Sydney Sixers before next week’s player draft.

The former national team captain, the second-highest run scorer in the history of T20 Internationals, will be available for the entirety of the 2025-26 season.

“The Sydney Sixers are thrilled to announce the signing of Pakistan superstar Babar Azam for the upcoming BBL15 season, marking one of the biggest acquisitions in the leagues history,” the club announced on its website on Friday.

Babar, has played 320 T20 matches in a number of competitions around the world, and most recently was the top run-scorer for Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League.

However, the 30-year-old has fallen out of favour under new Pakistan coach Mike Hesson as he was left out of the national team in recent T20 series against Bangladesh.

“It’s an exciting opportunity to play in one of the world’s best T20 leagues and to be a part of such a successful and respected franchise,” said Babar.

Sixers finished second in the 2024-25 season, but suffered successive defeats in the play-offs, losing to Hobart Hurricanes before being knocked out by rivals Sydney Thunder.

Each franchise is allowed to contract one overseas player prior to Thursday’s draft.

Sixers were the only men’s side not to have signed their overseas player, with England’s Jamie Overton, Chris Jordan, Tom Curran and Sam Billings all contracted to other teams.

England duo Jacob Bethell and Ollie Pope, who both played in the competition for the first time last season, are among the players entered in the draft.

They could both be retained by their previous franchises, Melbourne Renegades or Adelaide Strikers respectively, with each team allowed to retain one further player in the draft.

Pakistan trio Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan and Shadab Khan are among the new names to be available in the draft.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2025