Watch: Iftikhar Ahmed’s four wickets in eight balls stun Hyderabad Kingsmen in PSL 2026 clash vs Peshawar Zalmi

Many fans of the Peshawar Zalmi perhaps were not happy with the decision of their captain, Babar Azam, and the management when they decided to pick Iftikhar Ahmed in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2026 clash against the Hyderabad Kingsmen at the National Stadium in Karachi. They even dropped Aaron Hardie and included Nahid Rana in the eleven.

Peshawar, who were at the fifth position of the points table among the eight franchises, had won one and lost one so far. Meanwhile, their opponent, Hyderabad Kingsmen, were yet to open their account in three encounters of the campaign.

Iftikhar Ahmed triggers collapse with incredible spell

Despite having good pacers in their eleven, Babar threw the ball to Iftikhar Ahmed in the third over of the innings. And he got the instant reward as the off-spinner drew the first blood with the wicket of Maaz Safaqat for 17 runs. The southpaw used his feet but didn’t get the potential elevation and found the mid-wicket fielder.

Watch the video here: 

On the second ball of his second over, Iftikhar caged another ‘big fish’ in the form of Saim Ayub for 14 runs. The left-handed batter also came down the track. But he miscued it right off the toe end as the long-off fielder got under the ball and grabbed it comfortably.

The very next delivery was short, but Usman Khan, surprisingly, timed it into the hands of the square leg fielder for a golden duck. Iftikhar finished the over with the wicket of Sharjeel Khan, as the ball came with the arm and went through the southpaw’s cut shot.

The veteran finished his spell with a fine figure of 4/21 in four overs as the Hyderabad side finished the powerplay with 51/4.

Hyderabad Kingsmen suffer massive setback in quick succession

Hyderabad made a decent start with the bat as they reached 19/0 in the first two overs before Iftikhar’s couple of overs blew their middle order away. It was only the 17-run last over from Nahid Rana that carried them over the 50-run mark after the first set of six overs.

See Also: Watch: IPL 2026: Mukesh Kumar dismisses Sai Sudharsan for 12 in DC vs GT clash

Kusal Perera and Marnus Labuschagne steadied the ship with an 82-run partnership off 55 balls before the latter was dismissed. They carried themselves to 119/5 in 15 overs.

Brief Scores: (at the time of writing): HYDK- 143/8 (Kusal Perera 58, Iftikhar Ahmed 4/21, Sufiyan Muqeem 4/32) vs PZ. 

Fans react as match-turning spell goes viral in PSL 2026

Here is how the fans have reacted to the match-turning spell of Iftikhar in the PSL 2026 against the Kingsmen-