KARACHI: Pakistan’s former cricket captain Shahid Khan Afridi has said his T20 squad, the Multan Sultans, was capable of lifting this year’s Pakistan Super League trophy but Peshawar Zalmi was the “strongest” side in the ongoing tournament in Abu Dhabi.
Peshawar Zalmi will play its fourth Pakistan Super League final today, Thursday, after a thumping eight-wicket victory over Islamabad United in the playoffs on Tuesday. Zalmi won the PSL champions title in 2017 and was the runner-up in the 2018 and 2019 editions. United has won the tournament twice.
Afridi could not join his team during the PSL playoffs in Abu Dhabi this month due to a back injury.
“I believe if Multan Sultans continues with its [current] form, it can win,” Afridi told Arab News in an interview on Tuesday. “But the combination of Peshawar is excellent when we see their bowling and batting. So in my view, the strongest team [in this tournament] is Peshawar.”
“It’s a matter of happiness that my team [Multan] has qualified for the finals, and I extend congratulations to the entire squad, especially [captain Muhammad] Rizwan,” he said.
Afridi said Multan did not have a good start in this year’s series but significantly improved its performance, which helped it qualify for the final. He said the team’s pacer Shahnawaz Dahani, who hails from a remote town in Pakistan’s Sindh province, was an excellent addition to the squad, saying his performance reflected there was immense hidden talent in the rural areas of the province.
“I am happy that a player has come from Larkana,” the all-rounder said. “We see few players [from rural Sindh]. Most of the players come from big cities. So, the presence of such talent means there is ample flair for cricket out there, but we need to provide requisite facilities to the [rural] areas [to explore the latent talent].”
Afridi also congratulated the Pakistan Cricket Board, PSL franchise owners and players for the successful completion of the T20 tournament, which had to be posted in March due to COVID-19 cases among players and officials, but was resumed this month in the UAE.
“It’s very difficult to reschedule any tournament after it has been postponed once,” he said. “The PSL is a big tournament, and I would like to give credit to the PCB, owners of all franchises and players since they came out of a difficult situation and the tournament is being concluded in such an excellent way. So, the credit goes to all.”
Shahid Afridi hopes for Multan victory but says Peshawar ‘strongest’ PSL team
https://arab.news/zh5f9
Shahid Afridi hopes for Multan victory but says Peshawar ‘strongest’ PSL team
- Zalmi won the PSL champions title in 2017 and was the runner-up in the 2018 and 2019 editions
- Afridi says Multan had a rocky start but improved performance, team pacer Shahnawaz Dahani excellent addition to squad
Pakistani stocks breach 176,000 points barrier as investors expect further rate cuts
- Pakistani financial analyst attributes surge to falling inflation, investors expecting further policy rate cuts
- Pakistan’s finance ministry said Thursday that inflation had slowed to 5.6 percent year-on-year in December
KARACHI: Pakistani stocks continued their bullish run on Thursday, breaching the 176,000 points barrier for the first time after trading ended, with analysts attributing the surge to investors expecting further cuts in the policy rate.
The KSE-100 benchmark gained 2,301.17 points at close of business on Thursday, marking an increase of 1.32 percent to settle at 176,355.49 points.
Pakistan’s central bank cut its key policy rate by 50 basis points to 10.5 percent last month, breaking a four-meeting hold in a move that surprised markets. Pakistan’s consumer price inflation slowed to 5.6 percent year-on-year in December, while prices fell on a monthly basis as per data from the finance ministry.
“Upbeat data for consumer price index (CPI) inflation at 5.6pc in December 2025 [with] investors expecting a further State Bank of Pakistan rate cuts on falling inflation data,” Ahsan Mehanti, CEO of Arif Habib Commodities Ltd., told Arab News.
The stock market witnessed a trading volume of 1,402.650 million shares, with a traded value of Rs48.424 billion ($173 million), compared with 957.239 million shares valued at Rs44.231 billion ($158 million) during the previous session.
Topline Securities, a leading brokerage firm in Pakistan, credited the surge to strong buying at the first session.
“This positivity can be accredited to buying by local institutions on the start of the new calendar year,” it said.
Pakistan’s Finance Adviser Khurram Schehzad highlighted that the bullish trend at the stock market reflected “strong investor confidence.”
“With lower inflation, affordable fuel, stronger reserves, rising digitization and a buoyant capital market, Pakistan’s economic outlook is clearly improving--supporting greater confidence, better investment sentiment and more positive momentum for 2026,” he said on social media platform X.
