Hello and a very warm welcome to all our readers on your own blog. In this blog, we are going to talk about the pace ace and sultan of the swing the fearless, young energetic, and aggressive fast bowler in the current era of Cricket of Pakistan the one and only Shaheen Shah Afridi. He has been splendid in the last 3 to 4 years with the ball in hand in all forms of the game whether it is the Test or ODI or T20 he always has been superb and a treat to watch. Let's start the proceedings.
Early Life
Shaheen Afridi was born in the Zakhakhel Afridi tribe of the Pashtuns on 6th April 2000. He spent his early days in a town in the Khyber District named Landi Kotal near the border of Afghanistan. He is the youngest brother of his seven brothers, his elder brother is 15 years senior to him named Riaz Afridi. Riaz Afridi has also played a test match for Pakistan in 2004. So we can say that the cricket is in his blood. Shaheen Afridi started his career from his home ground named Tatra Ground in Landi Kotal. His elder brother Riaz Afridi introduced him to professional cricket in 2015 at the trials of FATA Under-16. He got success at this level and led Shaheen to the selection for the Under-16 tour of Australia in November 2015. He played his part in the victory of Pakistan by 4 wickets and Pakistan won the series by 2-1.
Start of Professional Career
In December 2016 Shaheen got selected for the Pakistan Under-19 cricket team for the 2016 U-19 Asia cup in Sri Lanka. He made an impact with 3 wickets for just 27 runs against Singapore in the opening match of the Asia Cup. In September 2017 Shaheen got the contract from Dhaka Dynamites a franchise of Bangladesh Priemer Lague. After that, he made his 1st class debut for Khan Research Laboratories in 2017-18 in Quaid-e-Azam Trophy on 26th September 2017. In just 2nd innings he registered the best figure by a debutant by claiming 8/39 on debut.
In December 2017 he got selected for Pakistan Squad for the 2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. He was the leading wicket-taker for Pakistan in the tournament with 12 wickets following that the International Cricket Council (ICC) named Afridi as the rising star of the tournament. Indian superstars Shubman Gill and Prithvi Shaw were also featured in this edition also.
Debut in PSL
In the 2018 edition of HBL PSL Lahore Qalandars picked Shaheen Shah Afridi in the emerging category and Shaheen made his debut in the tournament on 23rd February 2018. In the same month in the match against Multan Sultans, he claimed the figures of 5/4 including the wicket of Shahid Afridi which Shaheen didn't celebrate. Following that performance, Lahore won the match by 6 wickets and Shaheen Afridi earned his 1st Man Of the Match Award. After that he didn't look back and went further in 2022 he became the captain of Lahore Qalandars and ended the wait of 7 years of the team by lifting the 1st title for the team and was the leading wicket-taker also. He became the youngest captain of HBL PSL.
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| Shaheen Afridi in PSL 2022 |
International Debut
In March 2018 the 6.6 feet tall fast bowler Shaheen was selected in Pakistan's Twenty20 International (T20I) squad for the series against West Indies. Shaheen made his T20 debut on 3rd April 2018 against West Indies.
In September 2018 he got selected for the ODI squad for the 2018 Asia Cup and he made his debut for Pakistan against Afghanistan on 21st September 2018.
In November 2018 he was selected for the 1st time in the Test squad for the tour of New Zealand. He made his test debut against New Zealand on 3rd December 2018.
April 2019 he made his way to the squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup and on 5th July 2019 against Bangladesh he became the youngest bowler to take a fifer in the World Cup and registered the figure of 6/35. These were also the best bowling figures by a Pakistani bowler in World Cup.
In December 2019 during the 2nd test match against Sri Lanka, he registered his 1st test fifer for Pakistan. In September 2021 the career-changing moment came for Shaheen Shah Afridi when he was selected in Pakistan's squad for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. 24th October against a mighty batting line up he was ruthless he pinned Rohit Sharma right in front of the stumps and later bowled KL Rahul with absolute jaffa. Nassir Hussian said in the commentary, They can't play him. He got 3 wickets in the match with the addition of Virat Kohli's wicket and with that performance Pakistan managed to defeat India for the very 1st time in ICC World Cups.
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In January 2022 he was named the cricketer of the year by the International Cricket Council, he got 78 wickets in 36 International matches in 2021.
In March 2021, Afridi got engaged to Shahid Afridi's daughter Ansha Afridi.[5]
In July 2022, Afridi was made an honorary Deputy Superintendent of the Police (DSP) rank in the KPK Police as a goodwill ambassador.[6]
In January 2023, it was announced that Afridi would design Lahore Qalandars' new kits for the 2023 PSL.[7]
On 3 February 2023, he married Ansha Afridi in a private nikah ceremony.
Awards
PCB's Impactful performance of the year: 2021
- Shaheen was named to ICC Men's Test Team of the Year for the year 2021.
- Named in ICC Men's T20I Team of the Year for the year 2021.[
- He won the Sir Garfield Sobers for the ICC Men's cricketer of the Year of 2021
- Shaheen Shah Afridi's stats so far
- FormatMInnBMdnRunsWBBEconAvgSR4W5WTest2018–244047311682383956/513.0225.149.8104ODI2018–30291527131408596/355.5323.925.952T20I2018–404088421143473/207.7524.318.800