Watch: Redemption for Shaheen Afridi as he takes Desert Vipers to a win with the bat

Pakistan T20I skipper Shaheen Afridi hit the winning runs for his team Desert Vipers in the ILT20 2024 against MI Emirates on Tuesday, January 30. It was redemption for the speedster of some kind after a few tough couple of months in international cricket.

The Desert Vipers and MI Emirates played match 15 of the ILT20 2024 in Dubai. Batting first the MI Emirates scored 149/9 in their 20 overs. Mohammad Amir picked up 3/26, Luke Wood picked up 2/32, Wanindu Hasaranga picked up one wicket and Matheesha Pathirana picked up 2/32. Shaheen bowled a wicketless spell for 39 runs off his four overs.

For the Emirates, Tim David top-scored with 28. The openers Mohammad Waseem (19) and Kusal Perera (0) could not give the team a good start. Skipper Nicholas Pooren scored 17, Ambati Rayudu scored 23 and Akeal Hosein scored 24.

Chasing 150 to win, the Vipers lost wickets at regular intervals. Openers Rohan Mustafa (18) and Alex Hales (3) could not give the team a good start. They too like the Emirates lost wickets at crucial times and were torreting at 62/5 in the 10th over at one point.

Sherfane Rutherford (35) top-scored for the Vipers batting at number eight. However, it was Shaheen Afridi’s cameo (17 off 12 balls) that took the Vipers to a win. He hit one in his innings.

The Vipers needed 10 to win off the last over with Trent Boult bowling it. He gave a single of the first ball, bowled a wide the next ball, and gave a single of the second ball of the over as well. The equation came down to 7 off 4 balls. From there on it became 6 off 3, 4 off two and three of the final ball. Afridi squirted the full ball from Boult somehow to the right of the square third-man area.

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Watch: Shaheen Afridi Hitting The Winning Runs For Desert Vipers

SHAHEEN AFRIDI, YOU BEAUTY! WHAT A WIN ❤️❤️❤️🔥🔥🔥

Shaheen loves doing it against an Indian franchise in Dubai. Trent Boult couldn’t defend 🤯🤯🤯 #ILT20pic.twitter.com/uXLHruKsRX

— Farid Khan (@_FaridKhan) January 30, 2024

The fielder had to cover a lot of ground who came in to field the ball allowing the batters to run all three. The fielder threw the ball to the wicketkeeper, Pooran. The MI Emirates skipper threw the ball toward Boult with Afridi scampering for the third run. The fumble from Boult allowed Shaheen to make his ground and take the Vipers to a fabulous win.

Emirates, despite the loss, is topping the points table with four wins from six games. The Vipers are placed fifth on the points table with two wins and three losses. This was their second win of the campaign. The Sharjah Warriors are placed second, Gulf Giants third, Dubai Capitals fourth followed by the Vipers and the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders on four points each.

“We were 10-15 short, but we knew it would be an interesting game once we got those early wickets in the powerplay. It was a tough one to swallow. It is all about taking responsibility and accountability” said the losing skipper Nicholas Pooran.

“Bits and pieces cricket. There are certain positives, nice to get a win and nice to get those 2 points. A couple of rash shots, but I can’t fault the intent and we gotta be a little bit smarter. Always nice to win those tight games” said winning skipper Colin Munro who scored just four in the chase and is having a tough tournament with the bat.

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