Srinagar: Lahore Qalandars skipper Shaheen Afridi has hailed senior batter Fakhar Zaman for another match winning century in the PSL 2023.
Fakhar Zaman scored 115 off 57 deliveries to help Lahore post 226/5.
Fakhar Zaman made full use of the let-offs and made sure he make United pay for the drops. He was particularly severe on Shadab Khan and credited the curator for making high-scoring pitches.
“Fakhar played a brilliant innings, credit to him, whenever he scores big we win. We have belief in our bowling that we can defend. We were talking in the huddle before we went out, that we have 130 to defend and we went about with that mindset,” said Shaheen Afridi in the post-match press talk.
“It happens in the game, Haris is a good fielder [on Haris dropping a return catch]. We will look to give bench players a go and give the main players a rest for the next game,” said Shaheen Afridi.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Alex Hales started off brightly but weren’t able to push on and were dismissed by Zaman Khan and David Wiese respectively. Colin Munro and Shadab Khan had a tough time on the crease as well. The absence of Azam Khan, who got a blow on his left hand while keeping, hurt their cause as he has been the lynchpin of their batting line-up and is in marvellous form this season.
Faheem Ashraf and Asif Ali got out in single figures as Rashid Khan outfoxed them with his brilliant display of spin bowling on a surface where bowlers struggled massively. Rashid Khan chipped in with four scalps and conceded only 21 runs in his spell while Zaman Khan and Haris Rauf picked two wickets apiece.