Lahore Qalandar’s captain Shaheen Shah Afridi on Sunday said he was unaware of the change of condition of the ball that led to a five-run penalty during their Pakistan Super League (PSL) 11-match clash against Karachi Kings at the Gaddafi Stadium today.
The incident occurred ahead of the last over of the Kings’ innings when the on-field umpires analyzed the ball and deemed its condition to have changed, resulting in a five-run penalty to the fielding team.
The penalty brought the equation down to just nine required by the final instead of 14 for the Kings, and Abbas Afridi’s consecutive boundaries on the second and third deliveries steered the 2020 champions to a thrilling four-wicket victory.
Although Shaheen expressed his disappointment at the referees’ decision when they slapped the home side with a penalty, he claimed to be unaware of the charge and insisted they would discuss it.
“I don’t know about this [ball tampering]and we discuss. Five run penalty…but we can’t say anything. We’ll see,” Shaheen said at the post-match presentation.
Reflecting on his team’s overall performance, Shaheen argued that their batting unit did a decent job, citing the Kings’ struggle in chasing the modest 129-run target.
“It was a good match. We wanted to fight till the last ball and the team tried. In both teams’ batting it was the same. I feel our batting was fine otherwise KK would have chased this for 15 overs,” the left-arm pacer stressed.
Notably, the Kings’ sensational four-wicket victory in the recently concluded match extended their head-to-head dominance over the Qalandars to 15-8.
When asked if the Qalandars have any mental block against their traditional rivals the Kings, Shaheen demurred and instead highlighted the team’s spirit to fight until the final delivery.
“No mental block. My team has fought till the last ball, that’s what I need from my team,” concluded Shaheen.
