Watch: Shaheen Afridi sneaks past Babar Azam with a pitch-perfect inswing
One of the most enterprising battles to watch out for at the Pakistan Super League (PSL) is the face-off between Lahore Qalandards captain Shaheen Afridi and Peshawar Zalmi skipper Babar Azam.
The two Pakistan teammates and among the finest cricketers around, the duo was seen locking horns against each other at the PSL 2023 on Sunday (February 26).
As it panned out, it was Shaheen who had the last laugh by dismissing the opposition counterpart and their batting linchpin with an absolute beauty of an inswinging delivery, which has come to define the Pakistani left-arm pacer.
Executing another terrific delivery that jagged back more than the right-hander anticipated, the Lahore spearhead got his Pakistani captain and batting stalwart out with a pitch-perfect ball that perhaps no one gets it right more than him.
It was perhaps the set-up that did Babar more than the actual wicket ball from Shaheen Afridi. As this was a follow-up ball to the one on which the batter had creamed his friend past mid-off for a boundary. But the bowler came roaring back into the contest and ultimately got one up against the Pakistani modern-day gem.
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Shaheen gets Babar out with a peach in PSL 2023
The dismissal took place on the fourth ball of the third over in the Zalmi innings. Till that point, Babar wasn't quite set but a boundary on the previous ball, finding the sweetest of timings to dispatch Shaheen Afridi for a four to the right of mid-off, was expected to set him up nicely.
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What followed, however, was another absolute peach of a delivery from the Pakistani left-arm quick as he got Babar playing down the wrong line because of the late inward movement and had the ball crashing onto the stumps.
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— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) February 26, 2023
The riveting battle between two of the finest cricketers in the world 💫#HBLPSL8 | #SabSitarayHumaray | #LQvPZ pic.twitter.com/svSx7KcUn4
Babar, easily one of the world's finest players right now, was made to look clueless on that occasion. But such is the command over craft that young Shaheen already shows with the ball that even the best can't do much when he gets it spot-on.
The wicket of Babar set Shaheen up pretty smoothly into his best strides as he finished with a rare T20 five-fer next to his name and helped Lahore come out triumphant in a high-scoring thriller.