Sarfraz says his last-ball six against Qalandars can’t be compared to Miandad’s

By
Faizan Lakhani
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SHARJAH: Cricket fans at Sharjah witnessed another last-ball thriller in PSL on Saturday when Sarfraz Ahmed smashed David Wiese over long off for a maximum to help Quetta Gladiators beat Lahore Qalandars by 3 wickets.

It was the second consecutive evening in Sharjah for fans to witness a last-ball thriller, both ending with batsmen hitting a six to help their side win the game.

These two games reminded many of Miandad’s last-ball six at the same venue against India.

But for Sarfraz, the shot by the former Pakistan great remains the best and his last-ball six can’t be compared to the six smashed by Miandad.

“You can’t compare my last-ball six with the last-ball hit for the maximum by Javed Miandad at this venue. That was an international game and that too against India so that six by Miandad will remain the best and can’t be compared to any other shot,” he said.

He, however, agreed that such back-to-back games have added excitement to action-packed PSL.

Interestingly, Lahore Qalandars were involved in both games.

“Yesterday they smashed a six off the final ball to win and today they conceded the six of last ball, that’s the beauty of cricket,” the Pakistan captain added.

Replying to a question, the wicket-keeper batsman said that after losing early wickets it was important for him to stay on wicket.

“I was trying to stay on wicket and take the game till end because I knew that standing there is important. Thanks to Allah that I got success in what I aimed for,” he said.

Sarfraz remained lucky as well, as he survived a certain run-out as on-field umpire had already signalled him lbw out - which was later overturned - to make the ball dead.

Gladiators also escaped at least half a dozen run-out scares as hits by Qalandars kept missing the targets.

Asked if someone was praying for him to be so lucky today, he said that his family’s prayers are always with him.

“We always believe in prayers and our family keeps praying for us whenever we are in middle, that’s part of our faith.

“If I had got out there then things would have been difficult for us,” he said.

The Gladiators skipper said his experience of playing international cricket and being in such a scenario before also helped him a lot to overcome the match pressure on Saturday against Qalandars.

“We have been to such situations in international games and that helped me handle the pressure,” he said.

“AB is a great player and I can’t be compared to him,” he added.

With Quetta winning four out of four games, Sarfraz is now eyeing to keep the winning streak.