Shaheen Afridi lit up today’s Pakistan Super League final with an extraordinary 15-ball blitz from No. 7 to help rescue Lahore Qalandar’s innings against Multan Sultans.

After getting off to a flier in the powerplay, Lahore were pegged back first by the pace of Ihsanullah and then by the spin of Usama Mir and Khushdil Shah. 95-1 after 11.1 overs soon became 112-5 in the 15th – even posting a score of 150 was no guarantee.

Afridi, not for the first time in this year’s PSL, promoted himself up the order, this time to No. 7 with the intention of injecting some intent to the innings while still ensuring that specialist death overs hitters like David Wiese and Rashid Khan did not come to the crease too early.

Afridi displayed his intent early on in his innings, smashing his third ball for a straight six off leg-spinner Usama Mir. The Lahore captain went up to another gear in the following over off Ihsanullah, hitting his first ball from the Multan speedster for a 91-metre maximum over the leg-side boundary. Afridi hit his third six later in the over before hitting two more in the final two sets of the innings to take Lahore to a final total of exactly 200. Afridi finished unbeaten on 44 off 15.

Watch Shaheen Afridi hit Usama Mir for a straight six third ball:

BOOM BOOM in town! 💥#HBLPSL8 | #SabSitarayHumaray | #MSvLQ pic.twitter.com/H5nJl6eFc2

— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) March 18, 2023

Watch Shaheen Afridi hits 16 off three Ihsanullah deliveries:

Shaheen doing Afridi things 😎#HBLPSL8 | #SabSitarayHumaray | #MSvLQ pic.twitter.com/vMLix1O9jx

— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) March 18, 2023

Watch Shaheen Afridi smash his fourth six:

Be Afridi, Be very Afridi 🦅#HBLPSL8 | #SabSitarayHumaray | #MSvLQ pic.twitter.com/PMyTVi9nmc

— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) March 18, 2023

Watch Shaheen Afridi hit the last ball of the innings for six:

𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐇𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐇 SHAHEEN 🔥🔥#HBLPSL8 | #SabSitarayHumaray | #MSvLQ pic.twitter.com/Dlsueq4wH7

— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) March 18, 2023