PSL 2021 | Final: It's like we've found a new Shoaib Akhtar; Azhar Mahmood can’t praise Dahani enough

Multan Sultans made it to their first-ever Final in their fourth season in Pakistan Super League, having played their first in 2018. And in their very first attempt, the team managed to win the tournament and that too by a huge margin of 47 runs against four-time finalists and one-time winner Peshawar Zalmi. 

Shahnawaz Dahani with the ball and Sohaib Maqsood with the bat were two real finds of the tournament for the green brigade as other more experienced players like skipper Mohammad Rizwan, Sohai Tanvir, Imran Tahir and Rilee Rossouw too chipped in with their contributions. After the victory, the players and support staff couldn’t hold themselves back and fully expressed the winning feeling. 

In fact, the 23-year-old Dahani was the centre of attraction as the Multan bowling coach and former Pakistan all-rounder Azhar Mahmood compared him to one of Pakistan’s most lethal bowlers, but equally attractive personalities, Shoaib Akhtar.

Describing Dahani at the post-match interview, Azhar said, “He is always smiling, whether he's been hit or not. The whole team lights up by his reactions. He is chirpy and always in a good mood, It's almost like we've found a new Shoaib Akhtar.” 

Talking about the bowling abilities of the Larkana born, Azhar said, “This is just a start for him, we'll work on his outswingers, on his inswinger. There are things that I will write down in a report and send to the Pakistan bowling coach for better management of Dahani.” 

The bowler who was awarded the Best Emerging Player and Best bowler award for picking up the highest wickets in the tournament (20), has been picked in the Pakistan squad for the tour of England and the West Indies.

Multan skipper Rizwan was excited about the victory and credited the ‘Mighty Allah’ for providing strength to his entire team to fight it through after being at the bottom at the start of the Abu Dhabi leg. 

“Finals are pressure games - you can't avoid that in the final. We discussed that and brought it down to two things - it would either be the pressure of batting first or batting second,” he said about the preparation of the team ahead of this all-important game. 

The 29-year-old praised his bowlers and also credited the management to allow him the freedom to trust his players and play his team. “When you go for the win, you need to ignore the noise (criticism of team selection). With Maqsood we felt he wasn't getting enough of a hit and then we decided to push him up and it's paid off. And our bowlers have been fantastic throughout.”

Sohaib Maqsood, who was drafted into the Pakistan team for his brilliant performances earlier in the morning as replacement of Haider Ali, after the latter was thrown out of the team for disciplinary reasons, played an amazing knock to bag Man of the Match and Man of the Series award at the tournament. The Multan born was happy with the victory and credited a good domestic season and his team management for the success.  

“I got a lot of confidence from the domestic season. In the PSL I hadn't established myself, but the management showed faith in me and sent me up the order. It all started falling in place particularly when I started batting No. 3, which helped turn things around,” said Maqsood.  

The 34-year-old, who gave up red-ball cricket to focus on his white-ball skills was thrilled by the National call up but said that would focus on his fearless cricket approach rather than changing anything. “I don't want to do anything different - if I get a chance, I'll play with the same kind of mindset and aggression,” he said. 

Before the presentation ceremony, the likes of Blessing Muzarabani, Tahir, Dhani and Rossouw thanked the management for all their efforts and faith shown in the team. Tahir had special words reserved for his family whom he was seeing after more than a month.  

“My family is here and all the celebrations, the sprinting was mostly for them. I want to tell my son that if he wants to play, he would have to play like a champion,” said the leg spinner.