Watch: Shaheen Afridi involved in comical run-out after walking out to bat at No.6 in PSL

Kashish Chadha

The Lahore Qalandards skipper was promoted in the batting order at No.6 but was involved in a horrible run-out after an ill-fated attempt to sneak in a single.

Lahore Qalandars pulled off a rabbit out of the hat and sent their pace spearhead Shaheen Afridi at No.6 in their Pakistan Super League (PSL) league stage fixture on Thursday (March 2).

Playing Quetta Gladiators at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, the hosts surprised everyone by promoting their skipper, who is their bowling head, as high as they did.

The left-hander was perhaps sent in as a tactical grafter to play out specific match-ups while Qalandards strived to recover from a torrid collapse. They were 28/4 at the halfway mark of the sixth over in the powerplay batting first when the home side decided to bring Shaheen’s batting into play.

To his credit, Shaheen Afridi did what was asked of him. He played out a measured knock of 16 off 16 balls to stem the flow of the proceedings and snatch some of the momentum away from the Gladiators. But just when the tall left-hander was stitching a nice run-a-ball effort in the middle, he was the protagonist of a horrible run-out that forced him to make the long walk back.

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Shaheen Afridi’s comical run-out after batting promotion

The run-out came on the fifth ball of the ninth over when the Qalandards were still reeling at 47/5 and couldn’t have afforded another cheap wicket.

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But that happened when Shaheen Afridi played a reverse-sweep against off-spinner Mohammad Hafeez to the right of the short-third fielder brought inside the circle and asked his partner Sikandar Raza to come for a quick single.

Skipper gone! ☝️

Shaheen Afridi found short of his crease ❌#HBLPSL8 | #SabSitarayHumaray | #LQvQG pic.twitter.com/IIlo1czTsk

— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) March 2, 2023

But Raza at the other hand had a better view of things as he saw Naveen-Ul-Haq placed there making a timely dive and a quick grab of the ball. Seeing the fielder make an instant throw at the stumps, Raza asked Shaheen to move back to his mark. But by then it was too late.

Having committed to the run, Shaheen kept running and had a hopeless attempt of reaching back inside his crease before Gladiators wicketkeeper Sarfaraz Khan took the bails off and got him run out.