Shahid Afridi's Life History

Shahid Khan Afridi, the famous Pakistani cricketer and former captain of the Pakistan national cricket team, was born on 1 March 1980 in Khyber Agency, Pakistan. He has three brothers named Ikramullah Khan Afridi, Ikram Ullah Khan Afridi and Asadullah Khan Afridi and one sister who is married to his brother Ikramullah's son named Tariq Khan Afridi. He grew up in the city of Jandol, in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan.

Early days

Born in Khyber, Pakistan on 1st January 1980, Shahid Khan Afridi is a former Pakistani cricketer. He made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka in Colombo. His Test debut was against Sri Lanka in Karachi and T20I debut came against New Zealand at Napier. His One Day International (ODI) career total matches played are 48, including appearances at 1999 World Cup, 2004 World Cup and 2011 World Cup while his Test matches totalled to 79 with appearances at 2003 Cricket World Cup and 2005 ICC Trophy tournaments also included among these matches.

International debut

As a 17-year-old, Afridi made his debut for Pakistan during their tour of New Zealand in 1996. It was not until 2000 that he became an integral part of Pakistan's squad, however, as injuries and team selection issues often side-lined him. He established himself in international cricket by taking over 700 wickets for Pakistan—the third highest in ODI history behind Muttiah Muralitharan and Anil Kumble—and becoming one of only seven players to take 100 wickets at less than 20 runs apiece (his average was 19.51). His tally includes 23 five-wicket hauls and four ten-wicket match hauls, both Pakistani records. In addition, he has scored more than 5,000 runs across all formats of international cricket. In 2007, Afridi became one of only six cricketers to have taken 300 or more wickets and scored 2,000 or more runs in ODIs. By doing so, he also joined Shaun Pollock as one of two cricketers to have taken 300 or more wickets while scoring 2,000 or more runs; Pollock did so at a batting average higher than 30.

Test Matches

Shahid Afridi was part of Pakistan’s Test squad in 2000, but did not make his debut until 2003. It would take him four years to become a regular member of Pakistan’s team, and another three years before he experienced success with them. On October 6, 2009, he scored his maiden century during a test match against South Africa in Peshawar. This is no surprise given his ability to perform under pressure—he broke Pakistan’s record for most runs scored off a single over in January 2010 after scoring 36 runs from one over from Shoaib Akhtar. He also holds several other records including: fastest ODI fifty (against Sri Lanka), fastest ODI hundred (against England), highest score in Twenty20 International cricket (126 against Sri Lanka) and highest score by a Pakistani batsman in Test cricket (176).

Afridi has participated in five Cricket World Cups so far, first appearing at the 1999 World Cup. He played sporadically throughout his early career, but became more prominent as time went on. In 2011, he helped lead Pakistan to victory at that year’s Cricket World Cup by scoring 309 runs throughout their campaign – an average of 41 per innings – while also taking 15 wickets as their designated bowler. This was a huge accomplishment for him and for Pakistan given that they had not won a single match during their previous three appearances. In 2012, he was named captain of Pakistan’s ODI team and has been leading them ever since. He is currently ranked fifth all-time among ODI bowlers for most wickets taken (367) and holds several other records including: most sixes hit off one over (6), most sixes hit off one player (7), most fifties scored in a calendar year (12) and highest strike rate by a Pakistani batsman in Test cricket (100).

Afridi is known for being extremely energetic on-field, often celebrating wildly after hitting big shots or dismissing opposing players.

ODI Match

ODIs for Shahid Khan Afridi, , born 18 October 1980 in Khyber Agency, Pakistan, is a former Pakistani cricketer who played all three formats of international cricket (Test, One Day International and Twenty20). He was a genuine all-rounder whose medium-pace bowling is considered his stronger suit. He made his debut against Sri Lanka in 1996 at Faisalabad under Captain Waqar Younis and established himself as a regular player soon after. Afridi had played 336 one day internationals by January 2011, including matches at four Cricket World Cups where he was one of Pakistan's most important players. He is currently ranked 8th on the all time list of leading wicket takers in ODI history with 365 wickets from 335 matches. His strike rate of 24.0 balls per wicket ranks him 4th among all bowlers with more than 1000 ODI wickets to their name. In 2009, he became only the second bowler to take 300 or more wickets and score 3000 or more runs in ODI cricket when he dismissed Chamara Kapugedera during an Asia Cup match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan on 27 February 2009. The other bowler to achieve that feat was India's Anil Kumble, who took 382 wickets and scored 3248 runs. On 15 August 2010, he won man of the series award in 2010 ICC World Twenty20 held in West Indies. He also won man of series award in 2012 ICC World Twenty20 held in Sri Lanka. On 23 September 2010, he won man of series award in 2010–11 Commonwealth Bank Series held in Australia. On 21 March 2011, he won man of series award again while playing against England during England tour of Pakistan 2010–11. On 28 June 2011, Afridi announced his retirement from Test cricket to focus on ODI and T20I format after losing test series 2–0 to Australia but later retracted it saying it was just a joke but then confirmed his retirement from Test cricket after losing third test against Australia by five wickets which gave them clean sweep over Pakistan.

List A Matches

Shahid Khan Afridi was born on 1 March 1980 in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. He is a former Pakistani cricketer and current captain of Pakistan national cricket team.He is a right-handed batsman and a leg break bowler, who occasionally bowls right arm medium pace. He is well known for his aggressive batting style which has led to his victories by hitting sixes over long distances and bowling fast deliveries on flat tracks but he has failed many times due to lack of consistency in his bowling especially when it comes to fielding. Shahid Afridi is regarded as one of greatest all-rounders as well as one of best ever players in limited overs format of cricket. Afridi holds numerous all-time records including being most wicket taker in Twenty20 Internationals with 98 wickets and second most wicket taker in One Day Internationals with 387 wickets. In addition, he also holds record for most number of Man of The Match awards (10) in Twenty20 Internationals.

Afridi played his first Test match against India at Faisalabad Cricket Stadium from 7–11 October 1996 where he picked up four wickets giving away 133 runs during that match which ended as draw. His first Test five-wicket haul came against Australia at Perth from 20–24 December 1998 where he took 5/114 during that match which ended as draw too. He is also a part of Pakistan team in all three formats of cricket, Test, ODI and T20I. He has represented Pakistan in 663 international matches till date with impressive batting and bowling records including most number of Man of The Match awards (10) in Twenty20 Internationals. Shahid Afridi holds record for most number of Man of The Match awards (10) in Twenty20 Internationals. In addition, he also holds record for most number of Man of The Match awards (10) in Twenty20 Internationals and second highest number of Man Of The Series awards (7) in One Day Internationals after Sachin Tendulkar who has won 9 Man Of The Series Awards in ODI format only.

List A Centuries

Shahid Khan Afridi is a Pakistani cricketer and former ODI captain. He made his debut in 1996, against India, and took over one-day captaincy from Inzamam-ul-Haq in 2006. He was appointed T20 captain after Mohammad Yousuf announced his retirement. He was born on 1 June 1979 at Khyber Agency of FATA in Pakistan. His hometown is Landikotal, a small town located along with bannu.. There are five brothers and three sisters.. All of them were very interested in cricket but Shahid was most passionate about it.

Afridi started playing cricket at an early age and played for various teams including Pakistan Customs, Habib Bank Limited, ICL Deccan Chargers and Worcestershire County Cricket Club before he became a regular member of Pakistan national team. He has represented various teams around world like Hampshire County Cricket Club, Dhaka Gladiators, Mumbai Indians (Indian Premier League), Melbourne Renegades (Big Bash League) etc.

List A Half Centuries

He made his One Day International debut on 23 October 1996 against Sri Lanka. In his first match, he scored 36 runs off 21 balls including a six and a four. He became more open to play one day cricket in 1996 and was instrumental in Pakistan’s victory at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London. He scored 41 runs off 25 balls while batting second to enable Pakistan win by three wickets over England at Lord’s ground. This made him only player to score a half century on ODI debut along with two of his fellow countrymen Qasim Umar and Mohsin Khan. All other players who achieved that feat did so on Test Debut as no ODI matches were played when they were active players. On 28 June 1997 he scored another fifty (56) at Old Trafford Cricket Ground Manchester against Australia in just 37 deliveries which is still a record for fastest fifty in ODIs. On 15 September 1997 he scored 90 runs from 66 balls against New Zealand helping Pakistan win by 10 wickets. On 3 March 1998 he got out for 99 against India but his team won by 5 wickets which is also considered as one of most memorable innings of Shahid Afridi as it came after Sachin Tendulkar had hit 175 not out, equaling Vivian Richards’ record for highest individual score in ODIs. His performance during 2003 World Cup helped Pakistan reach final where they lost to Australia.

T20 Matches

Shahid Afridi played for Pakistan in T20 Internationals between 2004 and 2012. In these matches he scored a total of 1197 runs at an average of 23.94, with three centuries and six half-centuries. His highest score was 107, made against South Africa in 2006/07. He took a total of 26 wickets at an average of 30.35, with best bowling figures of 4 for 36 against India in 2010/11 

Since March 2013, Afridi has been vice-captain of the ODI side. He captained his country in two Twenty20 matches: against New Zealand (away) on 10 September 2010 where he won his first Twenty20 match as captain; then again (at home) on 2 June 2011 to Zimbabweans where he suffered a 50 run defeat. He also captained Pakistan in three ODIs during their tour of Sri Lanka in August and September 2012. In these matches he scored 170 runs at an average of 40 with one century and one half-century. His highest score was 96 not out against Sri Lanka at Colombo on 28 August 2012 which helped Pakistan win by seven wickets. He took four wickets at an average of 42 with best bowling figures 3 for 26 made against Sri Lanka at Pallekele on 31 August 2012.

T20 Half centuries

Shahid is one of only four cricketers to have scored a T20 half-century (50 runs) off fewer than 20 balls in an innings, along with Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum and Corey Anderson. He achieved it three times: against England on 5 August 2009 in his team's victory over them at The Oval; against Australia on 25 September 2010, also in his team's victory over them at The Oval; and against New Zealand on 27 November 2012 in what was a victory for Pakistan. All of these innings helped to win matches for Pakistan. In addition, he has made two scores of 60 or more from fewer than 20 deliveries each. In contrast, he has never been dismissed for single figures from fewer than 10 deliveries in any T20 match. His highest score from such few deliveries is 67 not out, which came when he hit five sixes and seven fours from nine balls against Sri Lanka on 22 June 2015. This was part of a 103-run opening partnership with Ahmed Shehzad that set up Pakistan's victory by 18 runs. It was his final international century, as well as being his first international fifty since October 2011. In ODIs, Afridi has been able to make many starts but convert few into substantial scores. However, he did score 71 runs from 36 balls in one ODI innings against Bangladesh on 9 January 2005; but that still fell short of what would have been a world record ODI century from fewer than 37 deliveries had another batsman not scored 72 from 33 balls immediately afterwards.

Runs scored in Tests, ODIs and T20s – all time rankings

South Africa’s AB de Villiers has scored 12 Test hundreds, which is more than any other batsman. There have been three Test matches where no hundred was scored – in 1902 and 1953 (both against Australia) and in 1995 (against South Africa). West Indies’ Garfield Sobers is next on 10 hundreds, followed by India’s Sunil Gavaskar with 9. The list of batsmen with most centuries in Tests, ODI and T20 Internationals stands as follows Afridi also holds a unique record for being one of only two players to score a century in all formats at some point during their career. He is also one of four players to hit an international hundred before turning 20 years old. In January 2010, he became Pakistan’s leading wicket-taker in ODIs when he surpassed Wasim Akram’s record total of 502 wickets; his 523rd dismissal was his 100th in ODIs. He also took over from Akram as Pakistan captain later that year. In February 2011, Afridi played his 400th ODI match, becoming only the fifth player to achieve that feat. On 18 April 2011, he became Pakistan’s highest wicket taker in ODIs after surpassing Waqar Younis' tally of 378 dismissals. During a match against Sri Lanka on 16 September 2011, he became Pakistan’s highest run scorer in ODIs after scoring his 3,000th run; he broke Javed Miandad’s record of 2,832 runs set 21 years earlier. On 4 March 2012 against Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club Ground ,Afridi broke Vivian Richards' world record of 848 runs in World Cup tournaments. His aggregate of 849 runs in ten innings included three centuries and a fifty. His unbeaten knock of 93 off 66 balls against Ireland equalled Adam Gilchrist’s record for fastest fifty in World Cups. It took him just 31 balls to reach 50 off 33 deliveries including seven sixes, equalling Chris Gayle’s record for maximum sixes in an innings. He finished his innings unbeaten on 93 off 66 balls including seven sixes, equalling Chris Gayle’s record for maximum sixes in an innings. He finished his innings unbeaten on 93 off 66 balls including seven sixes, equalling Chris Gayle’s record for maximum sixes in an innings.