Watch: Shaheen Shah Afridi sent a message to his critics with his celebration of a half-century against Quetta Gladiators, putting his finger to his lips.

Lahore Qalandars, the defending Pakistan Super League champions, have had a poor season, winning just one game. While Shaheen has generally bowled well, he has come in for criticism for some of his decisions as captain, especially for his regular self-promotions up the order.

His batting has improved significantly in the last 18 months, and he played a key part with the bat in their 2023 win, hitting 44 off 15 balls in the final. However, batting above international stars such as David Wiese and Sikandar Raza has raised eyebrows at times, with Pakistan legend Wasim Akram among his most prominent critics.

Wasim Akram "Shaheen scored 1 off 3, while Raza scored 22 off 16 & Wiese 24 off 9. They took the score to 177. It's not mandatory that if you are captain you have to come out to bat. Observe the situation & whether there are better players & hitters in the dugout. If Shaheen had…

— Saj Sadiq (@SajSadiqCricket) March 9, 2024

Against Quetta Gladiators, in his side’s final game of the season, Shaheen chose to promote himself to No.5, with wickets in hand but the run rate in need of boosting. The left-armer did his job, blasting a 34-ball 55 with four sixes, his career-best score in the format. The last of those brought up the milestone, and Shaheen celebrated by putting his fingers to his lips.

His knock helped his side post 166-4 having been 69-3 in the 10th over, but it wasn’t quite enough. Saud Shakeel batted through for 88 from 65 and Mohammad Wasim Jr. hit a last-ball six to seal a six-wicket win and book Quetta Gladiators’ place in the playoffs.

Watch Shaheen’s ‘shush’ celebration below:

Belting them out of the park! 💪

5️⃣0️⃣ 🆙 for skipper Shaheen ©️#HBLPSL9 | #KhulKeKhel | #QGvLQ pic.twitter.com/grsh4f1VSh

— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) March 10, 2024