Left-arm PAK pacer Shaheen Afridi was at his destructive best during February 26’s PSL match between defending champions Lahore Qalandars and Peshawar Zalmi. The Qalandars skipper ran through half of Peshawar’s line-up all by himself, ending the match with five wickets to his name.
The first two balls of Shaheen’s opening over set the tone for him and the pacer grew from strength to strength after that.
His first delivery –140kmph outside off– rattled Md. Haris’ bat, breaking it in two equal halves before Shaheen dished out a searing yorker to the right-hander and sent his off-stump for a cartwheel. Haris carried a dejected look on his face on both occasions.
First ball: Bat broken ⚡
Second ball: Stumps rattled 🎯PACE IS PACE, YAAR 🔥🔥#HBLPSL8 | #SabSitarayHumaray | #LQvPZ pic.twitter.com/VetxGXVZqY
— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) February 26, 2023
Shaheen Afridi takes his 2nd PSL five-for
The new-ball maestro in his second over gave Zalmi an even more serious dent in their run-chase of 243, sneaking through Babar Azam’s bat-pad gap to shatter the stumps.
Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Saim Ayud struck fighting fifties but departed in quick succession to give Lahore the upper hand once again.
Babar’s men would have harboured hopes of a late assault and a possible win through the likes of James Neesham and Rovman Powell. However, any such hopes were soon extinguished as Shaheen Shah Afridi took 3 more wickets in his spell at the death to register his second five-for in Pakistan Super League (PSL).
Shaheen ended the match with bowling figures of 5-40 off his quota of four overs, playing a crucial role in keeping Babar and co. 40 runs short of the 1st innings total from Lahore Qalandars.
Shaheen Afridi now has 10 wickets off just four matches and sits second on the list of top wicket-takers in HBL PSL 2023.
The left-armer is just two scalps behind Multan Sultans newbie Isanullah, who has played two more matches than Shaheen.