LAHORE: Lahore Qalandars, the champions of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), are making a surprising comeback as they gear up to face the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) XI in an exhibition T10 match on May 28.

The Lahore Qalandars team will feature prominent players such as Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Mirza Tahir Baig, Jalat Khan, Ahsan Bhatti, Ahmed Danyal, and talented cricketers from the franchise’s Players Development Programme. The PCB XI, on the other hand, will include Kamran Akmal, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Ilyas, Mohammad Akhlaq, Abbas Afridi, Abid Ali, Asif Ali, Sajid Khan, Ali Imran, and Usman Qadir. Additionally, U19 players will also participate in the match.

The match serves as a soft launch event for the Narowal Sports Complex, part of the Narowal Sports City, which boasts 14 stadiums and gymnasiums catering to various sports such as cricket, football, hockey, volleyball, squash, table tennis, lawn tennis, badminton, and more.

The decision to organize the T10 match was made during a recent meeting chaired by Ahsan Iqbal, the Federal Minister for Planning Development and Special Initiatives. Ahsan Iqbal emphasized the importance of providing a top-notch platform for the youth of the country to hone their skills, expressing optimism that the complex would greatly contribute to the development of future generations. He added that the youth of the country possesses immense potential to drive its transformation.

Furthermore, it was decided that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting would launch an advertising campaign one week before the match, ensuring smooth facilitation of both spectators and players. A significant turnout of spectators is expected at the stadium to witness the thrilling performances of national and international cricketers.

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif is anticipated to be the esteemed guest of honor at the inauguration ceremony of this state-of-the-art complex, which provides world-class training facilities for athletes.

This year’s season of the Pakistan Premier League has been filled with excitement. Ranbanya’s tournament record was broken and another team broke the record. If the final of such a busy event is not exciting, what else is suitable? It happened. Lahore Qalandars won the title after defeating Multan Sultans in a thrilling final.

Lahore Qalandars won the title for the second time in a row by defeating Multan Sultans by 1 run in the final of this season of PSL at the traditional Gaddafi Stadium on Saturday (March 18). Lahore scored 200 runs in the allotted 20 overs by batting earlier. In response, Multan stopped at 199 runs after losing 8 wickets in the stipulated over. Lost the final for the second time in a row by just 1 run.
Multan had a chance to avenge the 42-run loss to Lahore in last season’s final. Lahore-Multan will face each other in this final as last time. Lahore captain Shaheen Afridi won the toss and decided to bat first. Despite Mirza Tahir’s pace, Fakhar Zaman’s slow batting did not slow down Lahore’s run rate much. Lahore scored 38 runs losing 1 wicket in five overs. Tahir Beg departed after scoring 30 runs off 18 balls. He hit 5 fours as well as 1 six. Fakhar-Abdullah Shafiq added 57 runs in 6.2 overs for the second wicket pair. Fakhar departed with 39 runs from 34 balls with the team scoring 96 runs. Sam Billings failed with the bat that day. This English left after scoring 9 runs in 8 balls. At this time, Lahore’s run was 111 in 13.4 overs.

Lahore lost two more wickets without adding 1 run to this run. Billings and Ahsan Bhatti were sent back by Usama Mir for two consecutive balls. Sikandar Raja, who scored 1 run, was dismissed by Khushdil Shahr. But Lahore turned around again from here. Joining Abdullah Shafiq, captain Shaheen Afridi created a storm with the bat. When Shafiq departed after scoring 65 off Anwar Ali, Lahore was still 178 in 18.4 overs. He played the innings with 8 fours and 2 sixes.

Shaheen and David Visse scored 22 runs off the last 8 balls of Lahore’s innings. Shaheen scored 20 runs in 6 balls alone. The Lahore captain scored 44 runs off 15 balls with 2 fours and 5 sixes. Chasing a big target, the pair of Usman Khan-Mohammed Rizwan gave Multan a good start by scoring 41 runs in just 3.3 overs. Usman departed after scoring 18 runs off 12 balls. After Usman’s departure, Multan was chasing Lahore with the bat of Rizwan-Russo. When Russo departed in 10.3 overs, the team’s scorecard had accumulated 105 runs. Russo became a victim of Rashid Khan by scoring 52 runs in 32 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes. After one over, Rashid returned the ball to Rizwan as well. He scored 34 runs off 23 balls.

Shaheen Shah, who was initially beaten with the ball, took 4 wickets in two consecutive overs after taking the ball again. Shaheen, beaten in the previous spell, dismissed Tim David, Anwar Ali, and Usama Mir for 6 runs in his last over. He also dismissed Kieran Pollard in the previous over. Shaheen knocked Multan out of the match in this spell. In the last 2 overs, the target for Multan’s victory was 35 runs. However, Khushdil Shah and Abbas Afridi sealed the match with 22 runs in the 19th over by Haris Rauf. Multan’s target for victory was 13 runs in the last over. However, Multan’s batsmen could not get more than 11 runs from Zaman Khan’s over. Khushdil Shah scored 25 runs off 12 balls before being run out in the last over. Abbas remains unbeaten with 17 runs off 6 balls. Shaheen Afridi took 4 wickets with 51 runs in 4 overs. Rashid Khan took 2 wickets with only 26 runs in equal overs. David Visse took 1 wicket for 31 runs.

Shaheen Shah Afridi’s team Lahore Qalandars took on Quetta Gladiators in the 18th match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) on Thursday. Shahid Afridi’s elder daughter Aqsa Afridi was also seen at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore during the match. Aqsa Afridi clapped with joy and cheer sitting in the audience row. As the wicket of Quetta Gladiators fell during the game, Aqsa stood up and clapped her hands in joy. The scene was caught on camera.

This picture of Aqsa Afridi’s joyful clapping went viral on social media. Some of Shaheen Afridi’s fans posted on Twitter thinking Aqsa is Shaheen’s wife. Other fans were also confused.

And Ansa Afridi is the second daughter of Shahid Afridi. Shaheen Shah Afridi is originally married to Ansha Afridi. Fans got confused as the two sisters look almost alike. Incidentally, Shaheen Shah Afridi married Shahid Afridi’s second daughter Ansha Afridi in a local mosque in Karachi on February 3.