Lahore Qalandars locked horns with Peshawar Zalmi in match no. 15 of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2023 at Gaddafi stadium on Sunday (February 26) and won the contest by 40 runs.
Electing to bat first, Lahore posted a total of mammoth 241/3 in their allotted 20 overs. Fakhar Zaman top-scored for his team with 96 runs, while Abdullah Shafique also added 75 valuable runs to Lahore’s total. Wahab Riaz was the pick of the bowlers for Peshawar as he scalped two wickets for the team.
In reply, Peshawar didn’t start well and lost their opener Mohammad Harris with no run on the board. However, Tom Kohler-Cadmore‘s fiery 55-run knock off 23 balls kept his team alive in the game. Cadmore was well supported by Saim Ayub (51), but unfortunately, their efforts went in vain as Peshawar could manage to score just 201/9 in 20 overs and eventually lost the match by 40 runs.
On the other hand, Lahore’s skipper Shaheen Shah Afridi led his team from the front and took a fifer in the clash. Among the five scalps Shaheen picked also included the wicket of Peshawar’s captain Babar Azam.
On the fourth ball of the third over, Babar hit Shaheen a straight drive for a boundary. However, the 22-year-old pacer quickly responded to the Pakistan skipper by cleaning up the latter on the very next ball. After getting struck for a four, Shaheen produced a straighter delivery which the 28-year-old right-handed batter once again tried to send over the ropes but failed and was eventually clean bowled.
Here’s the video:
Shaheen Afridi vs Babar Azam 👑
Shaheen had the last laugh 👏#LQvsPZpic.twitter.com/sbt5AbBLVV
— Cricket Pakistan (@cricketpakcompk) February 26, 2023
Zaman was adjudged ‘Player of the Match’ for his exceptional knock. Speaking about the teams performance in the post match presentation, Shaheen said: “The overall credit goes to the batters as they were confident about going out and batting first on this green wicket. We have depth and variety in our bowling attack. With the arrival of Billings, the middle order has become stronger.”
Notably, after this win, Lahore moved up to the third position in the league’s points table, while Peshawar have slipped down to the fifth spot in the points tally.
