The Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2023 got underway on Monday (February 13) in Multan as Lahore Qalandars faced Multan Sultans in the opening match of the league’s eighth edition. The game turned out to be a last-ball thriller, with defending champions Lahore winning the contest by one run.
Asked to bat first, Lahore posted a fighting total of 175/6 in their 20 overs courtesy of Fakhar Zaman‘s blistering half-century. Zaman scored 66 runs off 42 balls, with Mirza Tahir Baig (32) and Hussain Talat (20) also contributing to the team’s total.
Meanwhile, Usama Mir and Ihsanullah scalped two wickets each for Multan. However, a funny incident also took place during the first innings when Shahnawaz Dahani missed a simple run-out of Talat.
On the first ball of the 16th over, Sikandar Raza defended a straighter delivery by Dahani, after which Talat at the non-striker’s end charged up for a run following the defence. But Talat was sent back by Raza from halfway down the pitch.
In the meantime, Dahani, who reached up to the ball quickly and had all the time to dislodge the bails, executed a direct hit and missed an easy run-out. While Dahani laughed after the failed attempt, Shan Masood seemed frustrated as he was seen telling the 24-year-old that he should have thrown the ball underarm instead.
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Commentators couldn’t believe what they saw and were frank enough to express their disappointment with Dahani.
“They are both at one end. He could have just run. WHY? WHY? God,” said Waqar Younis on-air.
In reply, Multan failed to chase down the set target by the barest of margins and lost the contest by just one run. Mohammed Rizwan played a superb 75-run knock but couldn’t guide his team to victory as Multan only managed to score 174/6 in 20 overs.
On the other hand, Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf took one wicket each for Lahore.
