(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) It may not boom quite like before off Shahid Afridi's bat but the wily Pathan still has that bit of old magic in his hands and can fox a batsman or two.
On Thursday night, Afridi got the better of not one, not two but three. His hat-trick broke the spine of the Maratha Arabians, and effectively killed their run chase of a monumental 122.
That as well as fine batting efforts from Fakhar Zaman Liam Dawson gave the Pakhtoons a 25-run win over the Maratha Arabians in the second ever fixture of the T10 League at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
Zaman and Dawson scored 45 and 44 respectively as the Pakhtoons recovered from a minor blip to work up the highest score of the League. Afridi snapped up three for 19 and Sohail Khan and Mohammed Irfan took two apiece as the Pakhtoons won comfortably in the end.
England's Alex Hales put his off-field troubles truly behind with an unbeaten 57 from 26 balls with five boundaries and four sixes for the Maratha Arabians.
He coshed Irfan for three successive sixes off the last over but it came a tad too late as that fifth over by Afridi was a telling one.
Afridi first saw the back of Rilee Rossouw, brilliantly caught by Najibullah Zadran in the deep and then had Dwayne Bravo leg before.
It was 46 for 4 and set up ideally for captain Sehwag, but Afridi pounced on his weakness of virtually no feet movement, and had him plumb in front.
The Maratha Arabians finished up at 96 for 7.
Earlier, it was a dream start for the Maratha Arabians and a horrendous one for the Pakhtoons after the former had taken a leaf out of Kerala Kings' book and opted to field.
Imad Wasim, who has been quite effective with the new ball when playing for Pakistan, came to the fore yet again.
The left-arm spinner had opener Dwayne Smith off the first ball of the match and should have got a second off the fourth ball had Virender Sehwag not fluffed a difficult chance while running in from short leg following a top edge from new batsman Fakhar Zaman.
The other opener Ahmed Shehzad swept the next ball for a boundary but Wasim was to get his revenge as Shehzad tried the sweep again but was foxed by the pace of the delivery. The ball rolled off his pads and sleeves and onto the stumps.
That left the Pakhtoons tottering at seven for two after one over. Liam Dawson joined Zaman and the pair took the fight back to the rival camp with the perfect riposte.
Zaman smacked two successive sixes of Wasim's next over as they put the wheels back on their innings.
Dawson then put pedal to the metal by clubbing Mohammed Sami for a boundary and two sixes on the trot as the Pakhtoons reached 50 for 2 in 3.4 overs.
As the teams took the strategic time out at five overs, the Pakhtoons were 61 for 2.
Zaman and Dawson were going along well until the latter was run out by Mohammed Amir, with the bowler catching him short following a throw from wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal.
Dawson made 44 from 23 balls with three boundaries and four sixes and it put an end to the 80-run stand for the third wicket.
It was perhaps the ideal stage for Shahid Afridi and the Pakhtoons captain warmed up with 10 off six balls with a boundary and a six, after initially being kept silent by Amir's testing line and length. But Afridi was to be run out by Akmal.
The Pakhtoons eventually racked up 121 for four and it was a tremendous comeback considering the situation they were in.
Zaman remained unbeaten on 45 from 22 balls with three boundaries and three sixes, while Najiullah Zadran was not out on nine from five balls with one boundary.
Wasim finished up with two for 20, while Amir conceded just 13 runs from his two overs
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