Watch: In an astonishing finish, Multan Sultans’ Abbas Afridi defended six runs off the final four balls of the game against Karachi Kings having conceded 16 off his first two legal deliveries.
Afridi was seemingly having a night to forget, with a head-high beamer, some big wides and an 107-metre blow from Ben Cutting putting Karachi Kings in command, but he turned things around in sensational style.
The match had already been a pulsating encounter to that point. Mohammad Rizwan had overcome a slow start to blitz his way to his maiden PSL hundred, moving from 50 to 100 in 18 balls, but it looked as if it wouldn’t be enough as a James Vince masterclass propelled Karachi Kings past 100 in the ninth over.
His dismissal brought another twist, and with Ihsanullah delivering another fiery spell, bowling his four overs for just 17 runs, Multan Sultans were in the box seat.
With two overs to go, Karachi Kings needed 40 to win. Imad Wasim notched consecutive sixes to keep his side in the hunt, but still, with 22 needed off the last, the game seemed done.
In two legal deliveries of carnage, the tables flipped entirely. Afridi began with a head-high beamer, imperiously pulled for six by Wasim. The free hit was pushed for a single, before a wide almost missed the cut-strip. Afridi found his radar again for the next ball, but delivered it right in Cutting’s hitting arc, with a 107-metre six, the biggest of the PSL so far, making Karachi Kings favourites. After another wide, and with six needed off four, Afridi was drawing sympathy from the on-air commentators.
Then, somehow, he turned the contest back around. A short-of-a-lenth ball brought a play and a miss from Cutting, before a mistimed slower delivery picked out Kieron Pollard in the deep, bringing in Irfan Khan to face his first ball with six off two needed. A single brought Wasim on strike, but the Karachi Kings captain couldn’t find the fence off the final ball, with Afridi’s comeback complete.
Afridi, a 21-year-old fast bowler, has previously shone in this season’s PSL, taking an excellent caught-and-bowled.
Watch the final-over drama below:
Drama. Drama. Drama.
All the action in the 20th over ✨#HBLPSL8 | #SabSitarayHumaray | #MSvKK pic.twitter.com/DKebOW941u
— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) February 22, 2023
