Afridi’s spectacular catch lights up PSL 2018

New Delhi :Shahid Afridi may have retired from international cricket, but his ability to produce spectacular moments in cricket is still alive. The 37-year-old, nicknamed Boom Boom, lit up the Ring of Fire in Dubai with a spectacular catch to help his side Karachi Kings secure a 19-run win over Quetta Gladiators in the 2018 Pakistan Super League encounter.
Colin Ingram’s 41 and Khurram Manzoor’s 35 were key in Karachi Kings reaching 149/9 in 20 overs. Afridi failed with the bat, with former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson dismissing him for 4. In response, Quetta Gladiators stumbled to 66/5 but Umar Amin was batting steadily. However, in the 13th over, Afridi changed the moment in spectacular fashion.
In the third ball of the 13th over, Umar Amin launched right-arm pacer Mohammad Irfan to long on. The ball was headed over the ropes but Afridi ran to his right and was close to the boundary. The former Pakistan skipper arched back, timed his jump well and held out his right hand out to take the catch. However, realising that he might go over the ropes, he hurled the ball in the air, jumped over the rope, leapt back and completed the catch. After completing the catch, he held out his arms aloft in his trademark style.
Afridi took the wicket of Quetta Gladiators skipper Sarfraz Ahmed for 7 and ended with superb figures of 4-0-23-1 as Karachi Kings secured a win.
The dashing all-rounder is known to take sepctacular catches in Twenty20s. In the 2009 World T20 against New Zealand at the Kennington Oval, Scott Styris lofted Umar Gul to wide long on. Afridi ran back and kept his eyes on the ball, stretched out his hands and took a stunning catch just inside the ropes to put Pakistan on course.