Shaheen Afridi's Lahore Qalandars emerged PSL 2023 champions for the second straight time after defeating Multan Sultans in last-ball thrilling final on Saturday (March 18). Qalandars became the first team to successfully defend the PSL title.
While chasing a challenging target of 201, Mohammed Rizwan-led Multan Sultans came close but were thwarted by Lahore Qalandars' bowlers just before the finishing line and lost the match by mere one run. Afridi led from the front and displayed an incredible all-round show to taste the PSL glory.
Riding on Abdullah Shafique's 65 off 40 and Afridi's quickfire 44 off 15, Qalandars posted a colossal 200/6. In reply, Sultans were reduced to 199/8, thanks to Afridi's exceptional spell of 4/51.
Rilee Rossouw's 52 off 32 and Mohammad Rizwan's 34 off 23 kept Sultans' hopes alive in chase but to only see their side going down to Qalandars.
Afridi snared all four wickets in his last two overs in which he dismissedTim David, Kieron Pollard, Anwar Ali and Usama Mir, which played an instrumental role in driving his team home. Rashid Khan too chipped in with 2/26 for the winning cause. In the end, it turned out to be an absolute humdinger of a match. Despite Shaheen's 18th over where he scalped three wickets and conceded just six runs, Multan Sultans managed to stage a comeback in the game with Khushdil Shah and Abbas adding 22 runs of the penultimate over bowled by Haris Rauf.
It all went down to the inexperienced Zaman Khan's final over in which Sultans needed 13 off 6 deliveries. The match could have gone either way but Zaman proved his prowess and Qalandars clinched the issue by just one run. Zaman conceded just one boundary and a couple of extra runs on an overthrow from close quarters which made things interesting but in the end Shaheen became the first captain to lift back to back PSL trophies.
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