Watch: Lahore Qalandar’s Shaheen Afridi displayed his batting skills in the Pakistan Super League, smashing an unbeaten 39 in 20 deliveries against Peshawar Zalmi on Monday.
One of the most talented fast bowlers in the world, Shaheen, who has taken 15 scalps in the ongoing PSL displayed his batting prowess in a league game against Peshawar, hitting as many as four sixes in a 20-ball cameo. Needing 159 for the win, Lahore were struggling at 94-6, needing 64 more from the last 32 deliveries. Shaheen, who had only scored 116 runs prior to the game in 30 T20 innings with a high score of 14, walked out to bat with Lahore staring down the barrel of a defeat only to produce an unexpected batting blitz to take the game to a Super Over.
The Lahore captain started off cautiously, scoring five from his first eight balls. He got going with a boundary and a six off successive deliveries in the 18th over, bowled by Mohammad Umar, and added two more runs to his tally in the next over that was sent down by Wahab Riaz. The last over was when the mayhem began. Needing an improbable 24 off six balls and with Shaheen on strike, Peshawar would have fancied their chances, but Shaheen had other plans. After the first ball by Umar was called a wide, Shaheen sent the first legal delivery for a streaky four, swinging hard at a slower one.
The next two balls were sent for two sixes: the first, a top-edge for a maximum over fine leg, and the second, a big hit over wide long-off. The equation came down to seven off the last three balls, but Umar pulled things back with two dots, leaving Lahore, and Shaheen, to score a six in the last ball for a Super Over. Under pressure, Umar sent down a length ball that saw Shaheen shuffle across and heave it with all his power, hitting it over mid-wicket for a huge six, and the game went to the Super Over.
The match, however, had an anti-climactic end as Lahore managed only five runs in the Super Over, which Peshawar chased down in two deliveries.
Shaheen had earlier picked up a wicket in his four overs with the ball. The result of the game had little bearing as both Lahore and Peshawar have booked a spot in the playoffs for PSL 2022.
Watch Shaheen Afridi’s cameo with the bat in the PSL against Peshawar here:
.@iShaheenAfridi with a bat is something we want to get used to. #HBLPSL7 l #LevelHai pic.twitter.com/ldw5lFIrgn
— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) February 22, 2022