Shahid Afridi

Sahibzada Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi popularly known as Shahid Afridi is a Pakistani cricketer who currently plays for the Pakistani national team. Afridi is reputed for an attacking batting mode and in the history of international cricket has the highest career strike rate. As per a survey in Pakistan in the recent past he is the most famous cricketer. He is a right handed batsman and a right arm medium pace bowler.

He made his ODI debut on October 2, 1996 against Kenya in Nairobi and his Test debut on October 22, 1998 against Australia at Karachi. In October 1996 as Mushtaq Ahmed was injured his placed in the One day International team was filled by Afridi who was only sixteen years old.

Afridi did not have a vast opportunity in Test matches. Yet in March 2005 during the third Test against India he scored a half century in the second innings quickly as well as took five wickets (which included Tendulkar’s wicket twice) and assisted Pakistan to win the game and level the series. In the year 2005 Afridi’s bowling and batting were very consistent while playing against India, West Indies and England. Bob Woolmer the Pakistan coach assisted Afridi to improve his shot selection and offered him an unrestrained rein on the batting attitude. For the Twenty20 World Cup in 2007 he was awarded the Man of the Series Award as he bowled brilliantly however he could not impress with the bat nor could take a wicket in the final.

Major achievements

He holds the record for scoring the fastest century in One Day Internationals off 37 balls In March 2005 while playing against India he took 3 wickets in the second innings and scored a fifty in 26 deliveries. As he hit the roof of the Millennium Stadium he became the first player to score 12 runs in a single delivery. Afridi has scored 5000 runs and has taken 200 wickets in One day International history and is the just the third player to have achieved this record.