Dubai. It was a treat for all the ‘Boom Boom’ Afridi fans at the Dubai International Stadium on Saturday night. Afridi, through a determined unbeaten 45, carried Peshawar Zalmi to an exciting two-wicket win over Quetta Gladiators in the 19th match of the Pakistan Super League.
After hitting two consecutive boundaries in the last over of the innings from Mohammad Mahmudullah, Afridi held his bat up to receive the standing ovation from the crowd. Some of the fans were seeing wiping away tears of joy and sorrow as their hero had announced his retirement from international cricket. A few kept waving the placard ‘Afridi we will miss you’ as their hero was hugged by all his teammates who came rushing to the ground to congratulate him.
Peshawar skipper Darren Sammy hailed Afridi’s knock saying: “Afridi held his nerve and played an unbelievable innings. It is something we have not done too often.”
Quetta skipper Sarfraz Ahmad, who addresses Afridi as bhai (brother), said: “When Afridi bhai bats like this nothing can be done. All credit to the knock he played.”
Sammy is happy that his team is playing entertaining cricket. “We just keep providing that sort of entertainment. Credit to the guys for the way they went out and bowled. (Mohammad) Asghar bowled really well and we put them on the back foot right away. Our bowling has been carrying us through the tournament. Hopefully, we save our best for the knockout matches. It takes only a few good minutes and few good balls to turn it around. We got to keep believing in ourselves.”
It was Asghar who won the man of the match award for his three wicket spell and a run out that restricted Quetta to 128 runs in 20 overs. He attributed his success to his skipper Sammy. “Sammy gives me a lot of confidence. He always tells me that I am a match winner. The wicket was spinning and I was bowling to my strengths. The Kookaburra ball spins a lot more, thanks to the pronounced seam.”
Sarfraz admitted that his team’s defeat to Islamabad and Quetta are wake up calls. “Two wake up calls from two matches. We need to perform better in the play off. We will correct our mistakes,” said Sarfraz who is hopeful of his team’s comeback.
“The way our bowlers fought was gladdening and it was a good match overall. In both matches, we were in a good position. We have been making a few mistakes and will try to cut down on the errors. Both our bowling and batting have been good, it’s just the small mistakes that have been affecting us,” said Sarfraz.
Brief scores:
Peshawar Zalmi bt Quetta Gladiators by two wickets. Quetta Gladiators 128 in 20 overs (Kevin Pietersen 41, Rilee Rossouw 38, Hasan Ali 2 for 22, Mohammad Asghar 3 for 33, Wahab Riaz 2 for 17) Peshawar Zalmi 130 for 8 in 19.2 overs (Kamran Akmal 26, Mohammad Hafeez 22, Shahid Afridi 45n.o, Mohammad Mahmudullah 3 for 31, Tymal Mills 3 for 21) Man of the match: Mohammad Asghar
