APL 2018: Shahid Afridi gives a fiery sendoff to Anton Devcich

The inaugural edition of the Afghanistan Premier League (APL) is going deep now and the tussle for the knockouts is getting ever so close. The competition is bringing the best out of the players and in the process, a bit of sledging is also being done. None other than Shahid Afridi was involved in giving the sendoff to the opponent batsman Anton Devcich this time around during the match between Paktia Panthers and Nangarhar Leopards on Sunday.

The incident took place in the seventh over of the first innings. Afridi bowled the last ball of the over slightly short to which the in-form Devcich backed away to play the cut shot. But the ball spun in marginally and disturbed his timber. Surprisingly, Afridi, who is often known to be the calmest on the field, fiercely told the batsman to go back to the pavilion.

The reason for giving a send-off

The reason of Shahid Afridi losing his calm was the way the over had earlier panned out. The second ball of the over took the leading of Devcich’s bat and fell just short of the cover fielder after which Rahmat Shah was dropped. However, the next delivery was pretty eventful. The Kiwi batter came down the track only to see the ball turn past him down the leg-side and despite a fumble, Mohammad Shahzad managed to stump him.

But the umpire signalled the back-foot no-ball from the bowler as it was touching return crease and it left Afridi infuriated. He had missed taking a wicket off his last three deliveries and finally managed to get the better of the batsman by castling Devcich. Afridi did nothing but vented out his frustration by telling the batsman to go back to the dugout.

The wicket also came at the right time for the Panthers as they stemmed the run-flow then and bundled out the opposition for only 127. Shahzad took over the mantle in the chase and smacked an unbeaten knock of 78 runs to take his team home with seven wickets in hand.

Here’s the video:

BOWLED! @SAfridiOfficial has a wicket, finally. He shows @BigCall13 the way back to the pavilion. Pumped up! It's all happening at Sharjah.

Ball-by-ball clips and live-streaming: https://t.co/MwUf4qgs1T #APLT20 pic.twitter.com/zrNyeaEFdy

— Cricingif (@_cricingif) October 14, 2018

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