Shaheen Afridi led the Lahore Qalandars to the final of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2023 final after beating Peshawar Zalmi in their Eliminator 2 fixture in Lahore on Friday, March 18.
Riding on Mohammad Haris' brilliant 85 off 54 Peshawar Zalmi posted 171/5 on the board in their stipulated 20 overs. In reply, Lahore Qalandars achieved the target with seven balls to spare, thanks to Mirza Baig's splendid 54 off 42.
During the game, there was a moment of either madness or frustration, when Shaheen Afridi attempted to run Haris out after the batting calmly defended one of his toe-breaking yorkers. Haris was clearly within his crease as the ball went straight to Shaheen, but the pacer chose violence instead by throwing the ball onto the stumps with the full might of his arm.
In the end, Haris was quite a distance from the wicket so the ball missed him and the stumps and went straight to the wicketkeeper Sam Billings.
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Shaheen's aggressive move might have been in reaction to Haris scooping his previous ball high over fine leg as it cleared the boundary for a six.
Both players are a part of Pakistan's national team, whose captain Babar Azam is also the skipper of Peshawar Zalmi. He himself scored 42 off 36 balls after Saim Ayub (9) was dismissed cheaply. Babar and Haris settled things down for their side as the pair added 89 runs amid the second-wicket partnership. The duo had put Zalmi in command at 102/1 in 11 overs before Rashid Khan handed Qalandars a much-needed breakthrough as he trapped Babar in his legs.
Zalmi were hoping to reach their second straight final and defend their title, but the final battle will now take place against Qalandars and the Sultans.
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