Shaheen Afridi cameo in vain as Peshawar prevail in Super Over

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Shaheen had an ordinary day with the ball but delivered with the bat in stunning fashion to force the game into a Super Over. © AFP
Lahore Qalandars and Peshawar Zalmi may have already booked their spots in the playoff stages of the tournament but the two teams put on a show to round off the league stage in fine fashion on Monday (February 21) by playing out a Super Over. A terrific over from Wahab Riaz ensured Lahore made only 5 in the Super over, which was duly chased down by Peshawar.

It was the second time Riaz had set up the game for his side after he bowled a terrific penultimate over during the run chase before Lahore forced the Super Over in quite spectacular fashion. Chasing 159 for victory, Lahore were dealt a massive blow as they lost Fakhar Zaman for a first-ball duck. The move to open the bowling with Shoaib Malik paid off for the bowling side. Lahore then kept losing wickets at regular intervals, thus placing pressure on veteran Mohammad Hafeez to steady the ship.

Hafeez did bide his time since he was running out of partners and when Lahore lost David Wiese in the 15th over, the chase appeared to be done and dusted. However, skipper Shaheen Afridi's cameo turned the game. Alongside Hafeez, Shaheen kept fighting to keep his side's chances alive but despite their effort, the task appeared to be tough. Lahore needed 30 from the final 12 deliveries and that's when Riaz entered the scene to add to the batting side's woes by dismissing Hafeez and Haris Rauf in the space of three deliveries.

Defending 23 off the final over, Peshawar would have been confident of closing out the game in their favour but Shaheen had other ideas. He had fortune favouring him as two back-to-back top edges resulted in a four and a six to spark some interest in the dugouts. A clean strike over the ropes followed suit that brought the equation down to 7 off 3. Shaheen failed to score off the next two deliveries but sent the final ball of the innings over deep midwicket to force the super over in dramatic fashion.

Earlier in the evening, Lahore's disciplined effort with the ball meant Peshawar had to settle for a par score. Hazratullah Zazai struck three fours in the powerplay but his opening partner Mohammad Haris fell early for just 6. Zazai and Kamran Akmal then helped Peshawar recover in the powerplay but both batsmen fell in successive overs, thus putting onus on the middle order to bail them out.

Malik and Haider Ali then added 60 for the fourth wicket to lay the ideal platform but once again, Peshawar found themselves in trouble as they lost the two set batters inside five deliveries. Wiese got rid of Haider and Fawad Ahmed capped off a very good evening with Malik's wicket. Those two wickets hurt Peshawar big time as they found the going though at the death. If not for a couple of boundaries from Khalid Usman, even 150 wouldn't have been breached.

Brief scores: Peshawar Zalmi 158/7 (Shoaib Malik 32; Fawad Ahmed 2-26) beat Lahore Qalandars 158/8 (Mohammad Hafeez 49, Shaheen Afridi 39*; Wahab Riaz 2/19) via Super Over