‘Jalwa hai humara yaha’ – Fans react as Shaheen Afridi shines with ball; takes a fifer against Peshawar Zalmi in Pakistan Super League

In the 15th match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), Peshawar Zalmi locked horns against Lahore Qalanders on Sunday, February 26, in the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. The Qalanders franchise won the toss and elected to bat first. The hosts made two changes whereas the visitors made three changes in their squad. Lahore brought in Sam Billings and Abdullah Shafique in place of Shai Hope and Kamran Ghulam respectively. On the other side, Peshawar brought in Bhanuka Rajapaksha, Saad Masood, and Salman Irshad in place of Sufiyan Muqueem, Usman Qadir, and Dasun Shanaka respectively.

Qalandars while batting first scored 241 runs in the first innings. The top scorers for the side were the left-hand opener  Fakhar Zaman and Shafique. Zaman scored 96 runs off 45 balls at a strike rate of over 213 with three fours and 10 sixes whereas the right-hand batter scored 75 runs from 41 balls at a strike rate of over 183 with five boundaries and fivw sixes each. Billings also played a quickfire knock of 47 runs off 23 balls with a strike rate over 204 with five boundaries and three sixes.

Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Saim Ayub fifty in vain

While chasing a mammoth target pf 242, Peshwar started their innings with a positive intent, however, the Qalanders skipper Shaheen Afridi broke the bat of Mohammad Harris on the firast ball of the innings. The left arm seamer was standout performer with the ball as he grabbed a fifer in his four-over spell, although he conceded 40 runs in his spell.

Watch it here:

For the Zalmi side, except one bowler everyone conceded the runs from an economy of above 10. Former Pakistan seamer Wahab Riaz was the pick of the bowler as he bagged two wickets and conceded 45 runs iin his spell of four overs and one wicket was snapped by West Indies all-rounder Rovman Powell in his spell of two overs and conceded 37 in that spell. The most ecconomical bowler for them was Arshad Iqbal who didn’t took a wicket but conceded only 28 runs in his four-over spell.

Peshawar were able to score only 201 runs for the loss of nine wickets in reply of Qalandars 241 runs. For Zalmi, Tom Kohler-Cadmore was the highest scorer with 55 runs from 23 balls at a strike rate of around 240 with three boundaries and five sixes. Saim Ayub also scored a fifty . He got dismissed after scoring 51 runs from 34 balls with seven fours and two sixes at a strike rate of 150.

Apart from Afridi, two wickets were taken by Zaman Khan, and 1-1 wicket each was taken by Haris Rauf and Rashid Khan.

Here’s how fans reacted after the completion of the match: