Shahid Afridi Biography

Shahid Khan Afridi (born 1980)is a Pakistani professional cricketer and captain of the Twenty20 franchise Peshawar Zalmi. Formerly he was also captain of the Pakistan national cricket team.Considered as a legend in Pakistani cricket history, Afridi is regarded as one of the greatest big-hitting cricketers of all time. He also holds a record of taking most wickets(97)and most player-of-the match awards inTwenty20 International cricket.

He is known for his aggressive batting style, and previously held the record for the fastest ODI century in 37 deliveries. He also holds the distinction of having hit the most number of sixes in the history of ODI cricket, Afridi considers himself a better bowler than batsman, and has taken 48 Test wickets and over 350 in ODIs. Currently Afridi is leading the chart of most T20I wickets with 92 wickets from 92 matches.Shahid Afridi has signed to play for Sydney Thunder in Australia’s Twenty20 Big Bash league.

In June 2009, Afridi took over the Twenty20 captaincy from Younus Khan, and was later appointed ODI captain for the 2010 Asia Cup. In his first match as ODI captain against Sri Lanka he scored a century however Pakistan still lost by 16 runs. He then also took over the Test captaincy but resigned after one match in charge citing lack of form and ability to play Test cricket; at the same time he announced his retirement from Tests. He retained the captaincy in limited-overs form of the game and led the team in the 2011 World Cup. In May 2011, having led Pakistan in 34 ODIs, Afridi was replaced as captain. Later that month he announced his conditional retirement from international cricket in protest against his treatment by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). However, in October he reversed his decision. He is also plays for and is the captain of Peshawar Zalmi which is owned by his cousin Javed Afridi in Pakistan Super League.

UNICEF and Pakistani authorities have taken Shahid Afridi on board for its anti-polio campaign in the tribal belt of lawless Waziristan region.

International career

In October 1996 at the age of 16 years, Afridi was drafted into the ODI team during the four-nation Sameer Cup 1996–97 as a leg spinner as a replacement for the injured Mushtaq Ahmed.He made his debut on 2 October against Kenya, however he didn’t bat and went wicketless.In the next match against Sri Lanka, Afridi batted at number three in the role of a pinch-hitter. In his first international innings, Afridi broke the record for fastest century in ODI cricket, reaching his hundred from 37 balls. The eleven sixes he struck also equaled the record for most in an ODI innings.Aged 16 years and 217 days, Afridi became the youngest player to score an ODI century.Pakistan posted a total of 371, at the time the second-highest in ODIs, and won by 82 runs; Afridi was named man of the match.The record for fastest century in ODI was broken by New Zealand cricketer Corey Anderson on 1 January 2014 who hit 131* runs from 36 balls and is now held by South-African cricketer AB de Villiers who made a century from 31 balls on 18 January 2015 against West Indies.

On 12 April 2006, Afridi announced a temporary retirement from Test cricket so that he could concentrate on ODIs, with a particular focus on the 2007 World Cup, and to spend more time with his family. He said he would consider reversing his decision after the World Cup. Afridi had played ten Tests since being recalled to the side in January 2005, averaging 47.44 with the bat including four centuries.However, on 27 April he reversed his decision, saying that “[Woolmer] told me that I am one of the main players in the team and squad and that Pakistan really needed me”^.Before Pakistan toured England in July to September, Afridi played for Ireland as an overseas player in the C&G Trophy.In six matches, he scored 128 runs and took seven wickets.England won the four-match Test series 3–0;Afridi played two matches, scoring 49 runs and took three wickets. It was the last Test cricket Afridi played until 2010.

Afridi was charged on 8 February 2007 of bringing the game into disrepute after he was seen on camera thrusting his bat at a spectator who swore at him on his way up the steps after being dismissed. Afridi was given a four-game ODI suspension, the minimum possible ban for such an offence, meaning that he would miss Pakistan’s first two 2007 World Cup matches. The PCB and Afridi chose not to appeal the ban, despite feeling that the punishment was excessively harsh.

In the 2007 World Twenty20, he performed poorly with the bat but brilliantly with the ball, earning the Man of the Series award, though he failed to take a wicket in the final and was out for a golden duck. But in the next ICC Twenty20 World Cup, held in 2009 Afridi performed brilliantly in the series scoring 50 runs in the semi-final and 54 in the final and leading his team to victory.

Captaincy (2009–2011)

Shortly after Pakistan won the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 the captain Younis Khan announced his retirement from Twenty20 cricket the Pakistan Cricket Board subsequently announced that Shahid Afridi had taken over as captain in T20Is; the appointment was initially for one match, with a decision on the permanent replacement to be made later.In March 2010 the board announced that Shahid Afridi had been appointed ODI captain in place of the Mohammad Yousuf he led Pakistan in the 2010 Asia Cup and during his first three matches as ODI captain he scored two centuries against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh he finished as the tournaments highest run scorer with 384 runs from 3 matches.

On 25 May 2010, Afridi was appointed captain of the national team in all three formats, after he announced his return to Test cricket.In July 2010, Afridi captained Pakistan in the first Test of the series at Lord’s against Australia.  After the match, he announced retirement from Test cricket. The team toured New Zealand between December 2010 and February 2011 for two Tests, six ODIs, and three T20Is. Pakistan lost the first two T20Is but won the third; in final match Afridi became the first cricketer to reach 50 international wickets in the format.In the same match, he also became the first cricketer to have completed the double of 500 runs and 50 wickets in the T20 Internationals.

After gaining victory as a captain against New Zealand, the PCB declared Shahid Afridi as Pakistan’s captain for the 2011 World Cup. In Pakistan’s opening match of the tournament, Afridi took 5 wickets for 16 runs against Kenya, giving him the best bowling figures by a Pakistan bowler in a World Cup.In the following match against Sri Lanka, which Pakistan won, Afridi claimed for more wickets to help his side to victory and became the second player to have scored 4,000 runs and taken 300 wickets in ODIs.He claimed 17 wickets from 6 matches in the first round of the Cup, including a five-wicket haul against Canada,as Pakistan finished top of their group and progressed to the next stage.After beating the West Indies in the quarter-final, with Afridi taking four wickets,Pakistan were knocked out of the semi-finals in a 29-run defeat to India.Afridi was the tournament’s joint-leading wicket-taker with 21 wickets, level with India’s Zaheer Khan, even though Afridi had played one match less than him.

Batting

His general style of batting is very aggressive and attack oriented and has earned him the nickname “Boom Boom Afridi”. Moreover, out of the seven fastest ODI centuries of all time, Afridi has produced three of them.As of May 2013, he has an ODI strike rate of 114.53 runs per 100 balls, the third highest in the game’s history.This attitude has been transferred to Test cricket as well, with Afridi scoring at a relatively high strike rate of 86.97.

He hits many sixes long and high, favouring straight down the ground or over midwicket. His trademark shot is a cross-batted flick to the leg-side to a ball outside off stump. However, his aggressive style increases his risk of getting out and he is one of the most inconsistent batsmen in cricket. This is reflected by the fact that he is the only player to score more than 7,000 ODI runs at an average under 25.Afridi is the only player in the world who has scored 1,000 runs and 50 wickets in the T20 format of the game.Afridi has moved about the batting order, and this lack of consistency has made it difficult for him to settle. In the Indian subcontinent, where the ball quickly loses its shine, he prefers to open the batting however elsewhere he prefers to bat at number six.

Bowling

Having started as a fast bowler, Afridi decided to start bowling spin after he was told he was throwing. He modelled himself on Pakistan leg-spinner Abdul Qadir.Afridi began his career as primarily a bowler, however after scoring the fastest century in his maiden ODI innings more was expected of him with the bat. He considers himself a better bowler than batsman.While he is renowned for his aggressive batting, he is also a handy leg-spinner capable of producing a good mix of wicket taking balls.He has over 350 International wickets, most of which are from the ODI format. While his stock ball is the leg break, his armoury also includes the conventional off break and a “quicker one” which he can deliver in the style of a medium-pacer, reaching speeds of around 130 km/h (81 mph).He bowls at a high speed for a spinner, resulting in lesser turn, and relying more on variations in speed. He occasionally sends down a bouncer to a batsman, which is very rare for a spin bowler.

On 23 March 2010, Afridi was awarded the Pride of Performance by President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari.

On 23 March 2018, he was awarded the Sitara-i-Imtiaz by President of Pakistan Mamnoon Hussain.

REFERENCE:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahid_Afridi