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Ahead of the opening match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) on February 13, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) held an exhibition match between the 2017 winners Peshawar Zalmi and the 2019 winners Quetta Gladiators, led by current skipper Babar Azam and former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed respectively.
But the one player who stole the limelight was another former captain of the side — Shahid Afridi!
Playing for Peshawar Zalmi, the 42-year-old Afridi, who recently became a father-in-law after his daughter tied the knot with star pacer Shaheen Afridi, played a mini-innings of 25 runs from 17 balls, but it was enough to win the hearts of the fans.
Afridi batted with the same old aggressive approach that made him such a fan-favourite. He saw left many in awe when he removed his helmet.
Match recap
In the first innings, Peshawar had the upper hand till the match had to be suspended after a bomb blast rocked the city hosting the match — Quetta. While reports suggested that the match was not stopped because of the blast and that there was fan disruption outside the stadium, the city was under heavy security detail heading into this game.
Once the match restarted, Iftikhar Ahmed turned up the heat with an unbeaten 94 off 50 balls, including 6 sixes off Wahab Riaz in the final over of their innings.
The opponent, thanks to Haris's 50 and Babar's 23 runs, came close to the target, but for the Gladiators, Naseem Shah earned them a much-deserved victory with his exceptional bowling in the last over.
