The Journey of Top Wicket Taker of PSL 8
Multan Sultan’s young fast bowler has become the talk of the town after the recent match against Quetta Gladiators at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. We are talking about none other than, Abbas Afridi. The speedster managed to become the first bowler to pick up a hat-trick in PSL 2023. Not only this, but he is also the highest wicket-taker up till now in the competition. The youngster took 22 wickets in just 9 matches leaving star players, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf behind in the race.
In a recent interview when asked about his hat-trick, he said:
“All credit goes to the management team, Rizi bhai, and coaches for working hard and motivating me. I stuck to the plan of bringing variation in my bowling during the match and that’s how I managed to grab 4 wickets”.
Abbas Afridi hails from KP and comes from a family with a cricket background. He is the nephew of former Pakistani fast bowler Umar Gul, who is serving as bowling coach for Quetta Gladiators. Afridi began his PSL career with Karachi Kings in 2021 where he got to play 4 matches only. Before that, he also played for the Pakistan team in the U19 World Cup 2020 in South Africa where he was titled as lead wicket-taker for the team with 9 off just 5 matches. The 21-year-old has also participated in many domestic tournaments playing for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sothern Punjab and Habib Bank Limited.
Afridi came under the spotlight after being picked by Multan Sultans this season. Under skipper Rizwan’s captaincy, he emerged as a key player for the team. In the ongoing PSL season eight, Afridi has consistently given the batsmen trouble with his superb slower ball, which is extremely effective in the death overs. With such consistent performance, Abbas Afridi may land a spot in the National team.
