Khurram Manzoor: “I have very rarely seen such innings. Shahid Afridi had scored a century off 37 balls. I saw Khushdil’s innings unfold in front of my eyes at the ground yesterday. He turned the match around on his own and changed the game completely”
Image courtesy of: Pakistan Cricket Board
Veteran batsman Khurram Manzoor has admitted that when Khushdil Shah hit his record-breaking century, it was almost like watching legendary all-rounder Shahid Afridi bat.
Khushdil walloped a 35-ball 100 – the fastest for a Pakistan player in T20 cricket – before getting out on the 36th ball he faced in Southern Punjab’s two-wicket win over Sindh in the National T20 Cup.
The 25-year-old thumped eight boundaries and nine sixes during his superb knock.
Manzoor also stole the spotlight in the game with his superb 108 for Sindh, which came off 58 deliveries and included 10 boundaries and six sixes.
“It was a wonderful innings,” Manzoor told PCB Digital. “I have very rarely seen such innings. Shahid Afridi had scored a century off 37 balls. I saw Khushdil’s innings unfold in front of my eyes at the ground yesterday. He turned the match around on his own and changed the game completely.”
Khushdil’s knock saw him become the ninth-highest run-scorer in the tournament with 191 runs in five matches at an average of 38.20 and a strike-rate of 207.60.
He also rose to the top of the list in regards of most sixes hit in this year’s National T20 Cup with 13 in total. Mohammad Hafeez, who is playing for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Asif Ali, who is representing Northern, have both hit 12 sixes.
Manzoor is now the highest run-scorer in the competition with 259 runs in six matches, which includes his century and two fifties, at an average of 43.16 and a strike-rate of 139.24.