T10 League: Shahid Afridi's Hat-Trick Powers Pakhtoons To Convincing Win Over Maratha Arabians

Riding on Shahid Afridi’s stunning hat-trick, Pakhtoons defeated Maratha Arabians by 25 runs in their tournament-opener.

Afridi’s decision to bat first after winning the toss turned out to be a nightmare as both of Pakhtoons’ openers Dwayne Smith (0) and Ahmed Shehzad (5) failed to get going. Both the openers were sent back by left-arm spinner Imad Wasim in the very first over. However, Pakhtoons’ innings soon returned on the track when Pakistan opener Fakhar Zaman and England batsman Liam Dawson took charge. The duo added 80 runs off just 37 balls before the promising stand came to an end when Mohammad Amir ran-out Dawson for 44. Dawson’s knock came off just 23 balls and was studded with 3 fours and 4 sixes.

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Afridi and Najibullah Zadran then hit a six each while Zaman remained until the end to help his side post a big score of 124 for 3 in the allotted 10 overs.

The Arabians began the chase on a shaky note before their innings was totally derailed by Afridi’s hat-trick as they started the tournament with a thumping loss. England opener Alex Hales waged a lone battle, scoring an unbeaten 57 off just 26 balls but lack of support from the other end never gave the chase the much-needed impetus.

Kamran Akmal was the first Arabians’ player to depart, getting dismissed by Mohammad Irfan in the very second over. Four balls later, the left-arm seamer struck again, this time removing West Indies star Lendl Simmons for just 4. A 29-run stand between Hales and Rilee Rossouw then stopped the rot for a while but it was all undone when Afridi rocked the Arabians by claiming three wickets in as many balls. On his very first ball of the game, he had Rossouw caught at wide long-on before trapping Dwayne Bravo lbw on the following delivery. On the third ball, he had former India opener Virender Sehwag trapped lbw to complete the hat-trick.

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Hales continued his aggressive batting but could not take his team even close as the Arabians finished their innings on 96 for 7. Afridi was awarded the Man of the Match award for his decisive spell of 3 for 19 in his two overs.

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