The wait is officially over. Sydney came alive on social media as the Sixers dropped a short arrival video of Babar Azam walking into the dressing room, accompanied by the simple but loaded caption: “He’s arrived.” The 14-second clip, posted on the club’s social platforms, shows the Pakistan star entering in team colours, and taking his seat in the dressing room before the screen flashes the message that has lit up timelines in both Australia and Pakistan.
For Babar Azam, this is the start of a fresh chapter in his T20 journey. Signed as a pre-draft overseas pick earlier in the year, the former Pakistan captain joins the Sixers on the back of a roller-coaster international run that saw him dropped from T20I for the first time in his career before returning to the format again in October. The BBL has long courted his presence; now, the league finally has one of the format’s most bankable anchors on its marquee list.
BBL 15 gets a new superstar centrepiece
BBL 15 will run from December 14, 2025, to January 25, 2026, with 44 games. This season also carries a strong Pakistani flavour: alongside Babar at the Sixers, Shaheen Shah Afridi has joined Brisbane Heat, Mohammad Rizwan and Hassan Khan are with Melbourne Renegades, Haris Rauf with Melbourne Stars, Shadab Khan with Sydney Thunder, and Hasan Ali at Adelaide Strikers.
The Sixers, already one of the BBL’s most consistent sides, now have a global batting attraction to market their season around. Babar’s ability to open, control tempo, and bat deep makes him an ideal fit for Australian conditions, where new-ball fluence and smart rotation of strikes through the middle overs often decide games. Internally, the franchise will also see him as a stabilising presence around whom their local hitters can attack with freedom.
Online, the reaction to that one arrival video has been instant and loud. Comment sections are flooded with pink hearts and Pakistan flags, fans hyping Babar as the “real king, and full support to BBL’s new superstar. For the Sixers and for the BBL, the message is clear: the league has added another genuine global headliner, and his first stride into the dressing room in that 14-second video is just the trailer.
