If there is one word to describe Shahid Afridi’s batting technique then it’s aggressive. Nicknamed “Boom Boom” for the fastest ODI century Afridi has an all or nothing approach to batting and when his aggression rubs off the bowling attack usually has no chance of pulling him back.
His ODI strike rate when batting is an incredible 109.38 better than anybody else in the game. At the top of the order, when it works, Afridi’s batting can win a game for Pakistan in minutes. In test match cricket he doesn’t make himself any less attacking. But a maverick he is. Attacking crowd members with bats and walking all over a cricket pitch are just two of several disciplinary incidents that he and the ICC have addressed in the past few years.
His bowling is also a very useful tool for Pakistan. In ODI cricket he can pull batsman in with fast spells of spin. His quicker ball can reach up to 70mph of just a few paces. In test cricket Pakistan use him more as a bowler who can bring run rates down and take the odd wicket. He’s had various un-successful spells at different counties in England. There’s one thing about Afridi you will always be entertained when he gets going.
Shahid Afridi | ||||
Personal information | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Sahibzada Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi | |||
Born | 1 March 1980 (age 29) | |||
Khyber Agency, Pakistan | ||||
Batting style | Right-handed | |||
Bowling style | Right arm leg-spin | |||
Role | All rounder | |||
Domestic team information | ||||
Years | Team | |||
2008- | Deccan Chargers | |||
2007- | Sindh | |||
2006 | Ireland | |||
2004 | Kent | |||
2003-04 | Griqualand West | |||
2003 | Derbyshire | |||
2001 | Leicestershire | |||
2001 | MCC | |||
1997-2008 | Habib Bank Limited | |||
1995- | Karachi | |||
Career statistics | ||||
Test | ODI | FC | LA | |
Matches | 26 | 271 | 109 | 356 |
Runs scored | 1,683 | 5,531 | 5,598 | 7,979 |
Batting average | 37.40 | 23.23 | 31.80 | 25.09 |
100s/50s | 5/8 | 4/29 | 12/30 | 6/46 |
Top score | 156 | 109 | 164 | 114 |
Balls bowled | 3,092 | 11,164 | 13,391 | 15,026 |
Wickets | 47 | 243 | 257 | 340 |
Bowling average | 34.89 | 35.52 | 27.05 | 34.05 |
5 wickets in innings | 1 | 2 | 8 | 4 |
10 wickets in match | 0 | n/a | 0 | n/a |
Best bowling | 5/52 | 5/11 | 6/101 | 5/11 |
Catches/stumpings | 10/- | 93/- | 75/- | 112/- |
Spotted: Shahid Afridi at Dallas airport
Reader Roopali Gajbhiye sent us this picture from the United States.
'It was a pleasure to meet Shahid Afridi at Dallas Fortworth Airport on 16th Feb 2008.
'I was on my trip from Dallas to New Jersey and happened to meet him at the DFW Airport. Most certainly, he was the most handsome guy at the airport at that moment of time,' writes Roopali.
Thank you, Roopali, for sending this photograph!
LONDON - Flamboyant Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi has commended captain Younis Khan for his leadership qualities saying he has made the ‘players gel really well’.
Afridi, who is on a charity tour of Britain along with Younis Khan, said the best part of Khan’s captaincy is that he treats every player equally.
“Younis is like an older brother to me and a lot of the younger players. It doesnt make any difference to him whether a player is Punjabi, from Karachi, Pathan or whatever else, he treats everyone the same and really looks after all of us,” PakPassion.net quoted Afridi, as saying.
“Younis has a lot of respect for all the guys in the team, whether you are a senior player or new to international cricket. This makes everyone feel welcome and part of the setup and not an outsider and has really made us gel as a team,” he added.
Afridi said it was Younis who had made him to do charity work for thousands of people facing several difficulties back home.
“Due to the firing and the bomb blasts, lots of people still don’t have roofs over their heads. Coupled with the problems people face in getting basic daily food and drink, and all just before Ramazan, that’s why we’re in UK,” said Afridi, who originally belongs to Swat.
“We need to inform people what is happening in Swat at this moment, where people in their own country are homeless,” he added. (ANI)
Career Highlights
- On 4 October 1996, playing his maiden international innings, Afridi hit the Fastest One-Day century off 37 balls against Sri Lanka in Nairobi. His innings included 28 runs off one of Sanath Jayasuriya's overs, whose record he broke.
- Youngest player in history to make an ODI century at just 16 years and 217 days with his 37 ball ton against Sri Lanka. It included 11 sixes and 6 fours.
- Made a half-century from 26 balls and took 3 second-innings wickets in Pakistan's series-drawing Test victory against India in March 2005.
- Holds the joint record with Brian Lara for the third fastest ODI century off 45 balls in April 2005 against India. This actually was the first match that witnessed the Indian cricketer-turned-commentator Ravi Shastri make him the nickname Boom Boom Afridi.
- Equal highest aggregate sixes scored in the 50-over game, shared the legendary Sri Lankan batsman Sanath Jayasuriya, and he the most sixes per innings record.
- Scored four consecutive sixes off a Harbhajan Singh over in a Test match against India in January 2006, matching a feat that Kapil Dev achieved in 1990.
- Was the First player to score 12 runs off one ball, by hitting the roof of the Millennium Stadium. This took place in a game of Power Cricket.
- Holds four of the top eight fastest ODI half centuries, twice completed in 18 balls and twice in 20 balls. He has also scored a half century off just 21 balls.
- Made 32 runs off a Malinga Bandara over in an ODI game at Abu Dhabi in 2007. He struck four consecutive sixes and it was the 2nd most expensive over in ODI history.
- Afridi is only third player in ODI history to achieve the combination of 5000 runs and 200 wickets. The other players being Sri Lankan batsman Sanath Jayasuriya and South African Jacques Kallis.
My Aim, beyond the skies...
Style
His general style of batting is very Aggressive and Attack Oriented and has earned him the nickname "Boom Boom Afridi" for his fastest One Day International century just in 37 balls. As of 22 May 2007, he has an ODI strike rate of 109.38 runs per 100 balls, the 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 86.13 in Tests. He has an approach to batting that can change the tempo of a game and inspire the mood of an audience, as shown when a mass exodus of spectators occurred in Pakistan in late 2005 following his dismissal from the crease. He hits many sixes long and high, favoring straight down the ground or over midwicket. A trademark shot is a crossbatted flick to the leg-side to a ball outside off stump.. This Explosive Style has led to some memorable shots, most notably the first ever 12 in power cricket in 2002, where Afridi successfully hit the roof.
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 5000 ODI runs at an average under 25.
Afridi knocked out Indian Batsman Yuraj...
Bowling-wise, his stock ball is the leg break, but his armory also includes the conventional off break and a 'quicker one' which he can deliver at nearly 80 mph in the style of a medium-pacer. 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 batsmen, which is very rare for a spin bowler.
...................Shahid Afridi's Daughters
A moment which no Indo-Pak cricket crazy fan would forget!
Gambhir's clash with the Super Star Shahid Khan Afridi
The True Story
The true story is, Gautam Gambhir, by the time was a new-comer in the Indian Cricket Team. Just for putting his name in The Breaking News and for geting false fame he planned this stupid and awful clash. Afridi being an Experienced and a Professional Cricketer and most of all A Kind-Hearted Human, he didn't react or showed any kind of response to this because he knows such things.And as far as reacting is concerned so, Shahid Khan Afridi,could better show a response to the rude attitude of the Indian Batsman Gambir.
Afridi, A Star in himself...
Shahid Afridi, after receiving the Man of the Match Award in T20 WorldCup 2008.
More About The Super Star Shahid Khan Afridi
In cricket, Shahid Afridi is the Maddest of Mad Maxes. A flamboyant allrounder introduced to international cricket as a 16-year-old legspinner, he surprised everyone but himself by pinch-hitting the fastest one-day hundred in his maiden innings. Afridi is a compulsive shot-maker and although until 2004 it was too often his undoing, causing him to float in and out of the team, a combination of maturity on and off the field and a sympathetic coach in Bob Woolmer, saw Afridi blossom into one of modern-day cricket's most Dangerous Players and a vital cog in Pakistan's revival in 2005.
Celebrating the Victory...
A string of incisive contributions from June 2004 culminated in a violent century against India in Kanpur in April 2005; remarkably it was the joint second fastest ODI century in terms of balls faced. A few weeks before, by smashing the joint second fastest Test half-century at Bangalore and taking crucial last day wickets, Afridi had helped Pakistan memorably level the Test series. So his year continued; a Test century against the West Indies and contributions against England at the end of the year. He went berserk against India on the flattest of pitches with two centuries, including a Test best 156 in January 2006.
Afridi having a funny chat with Shoiab Akhtar
An Afridi virtuoso is laced with fearless lofted drives and short-arm jabs over midwicket. He is at his best when forcing straight and at his weakest pushing at the ball just outside off. The biggest improvement has been in Afridi's legspin; previously underrated, they are now integral in the ODI side and curiously effective at key moments in Tests.
Afridi's Amazing swep-shot...
When the conditions are with him, he gets turn as well as some lazy drift, but his box of tricks is the key, boasting a vicious faster ball and a conventional off-spinner as well. His allround skills are completed by agile fielding and among the strongest arms in the game; he also possesses the firmest handshake in international cricket.
Afrid's unique style of appealing...
Again he shocked everyone but himself when, after finally becoming a fixture in the Pakistan side, and a thrillingly bombastic one at that, he announced a temporary 'retirement' from Test cricket, citing an increasingly heavy playing schedule. To less surprise, he retracted his retirement two weeks later. Since then he has been dropped again from the Test team in England and his place in the ODI side has been in flux. He remains, though, an original and a dangerous one at that and in the absence of Inzamam, Yousuf and Razzaq, one of the senior-most players in the team.
London
Cricket can make people better behaved and more cooperative, according to research in Britain published Tuesday, which might surprise fans following the current Ashes series.
The study from Loughborough University in central England looked at the impact of StreetChance, a scheme which encourages young people in tough inner city areas of London to play cricket. It found that the game helped them to boost confidence, improve communication and negotiation skills and take responsibility for decision-making, as well as improving their maths and team work.
The StreetChance scheme has been running for a year amd has involved around 7,000 young people. Report co-author Ruth Jeanes said it was having"positive benefits" and that the sessions had"motivated young people".
The final and deciding Test match in the Ashes series between England and Australia gets under way at London's Oval Thursday.
The Australians are traditionally renowned for their verbal aggression towards opposition batsmen, known as"sledging"Cricket Challenge on August 10th at the (London) on August 10th. Not sure about the result of the games, but it doesn’t really matter: the process is more important than the result.
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