It's a series that throws BBL outcast Babar Azam back in front of his tormentors and promises to add further fuel to the Steve Smith World Cup debate – but you won't see a ball of it live in Australia.

Several Pakistan cricketers, including Babar Azam, have reportedly suffered heavy financial losses after allegedly investing in a Ponzi scheme. Reports

The controversial Big Bash League season of Babar Azam has come to a premature and abrupt end just before the Sixers’ fight for a place in the final.

The announcement comes just 24 hours before Sydney Sixers' Challenger final against Hobart Hurricanes

The report card is a mixed one, solid in patches, underwhelming in impact. And in a league like the BBL, the strike rate doesn’t just complement the story. It is the story.

Sixers captain Henriques later put that down to a "misunderstanding of culture" and insisted the pair had "kissed and made up". Waugh's call to drop Azam has angered the Pakistani's loyal fan base but Latif, who played 37 Tests and 166 ODIs as well as captaining his country, understands the reasoning behind it.

Babar Azam, who was facing the axe, left the BBL a day before Sydney Sixers’ playoff match against the Hobart Hurricanes after the Pakistan Cricket Board asked him to report for national duty.

The beef between Babar Azam and Steve Smith went on longer than expected.