Aggression, power and passion are the three things that nature filled him up with because he was to be the one who he is today. The man who has been a darling of his nation since he began his career, he is still one of the most followed cricketers in the world and is very well known for his ‘boom boom’ batting. Shahid Khan Afridi, has announced his retirement from One Day International Cricket after the upcoming ICC World Cup next month.
Shahid Afridi needs no introduction in the cricketing world. Well-known for his aggressive batting, this man is also called ‘Boom Boom’ which, no doubt, suits him perfectly. Originally included in the team as a leg spin bowler, Afridi now plays as an all-rounder, he is a right-handed middle order batsman and a right-handed leg spin bowler. In his 18 year old career, a cricketer like Afridi is always expected to have broken, equalized and made many new records and he has done all of these, making it a very successful and bright career indeed. On an individual level as well as team level, Afridi’s performance has been simply great. Along with a very attractive personality, this man has it all to be called a ‘cricketing legend’.
Once, a player retires from a sport, one of many things that judge his career and give it a title of ‘successful’ or ‘ordinary’ , are the records he has made. Shahid Afridi has always been known for his record of ‘fastest ODI century’ which was broken by New Zealand’s Corey Anderson recently but Shahid still remains the youngest player to score a century, in just 36 balls, which he did back in 1996 when he was only 16 years of age.
Since he made his debut in 1996, Afridi has broken many records on the cricketing pitch, especially in the limited over format. His passion for the game and an enthusiastic approach has lead him to many glories. Any cricketer would surely have a dream to have the records this man has.
Afridi is best suited to the Twenty-20 format. Afridi is 3rd on the list of highest wicket takers in the T20 format with 81 wickets having played only 77 international T20 matches. The two players who are ahead of him are his compatriots, Saeed Ajmal and Umar Gul with 85 and 82 wickets, respectively. Afridi is the only player in T20 history to score over 1000 runs and taken over 50 wickets.
Shahid Afridi has played 389 ODI matches in his career scoring 7870 runs with an average of 23.49. He has found the boundary 1072 times in his career out of which 710 were fours and a record 342 sixes. Afridi is has most sixes in ODI format in history of cricket followed by Sri Lankan legend, Sanath Jayasuriya, who is second with 270 sixes in his career. Afridi doesn’t just hit boundaries, he does it with such a power that he has a record of longest SIX in the history. He hit that SIX against South Africa at Johannesburg in an ODI match on March 17, 2013. That six was 158 meters long. With a strike rate of with 115.11, Afridi also holds the record of highest strike rate in ODI cricket.
Apart from batting, his bowling has been of much more significance to him. He always considered himself a ‘bowling all-rounder’. There is a list of records in the bowling department that belongs to Afridi. He is the 6th highest wicket taker having played 389 matches and taken 391 wicket with 9 five-wicket hauls in ODIs. Afridi has second best bowling figures in the history of ODI cricket. He took 7 wickets and gave away only 12 runs in a match against West Indies, in 2013.
Besides all this, Afridi stands as the only player to score a fifty and take a five wicket haul thrice in his career.
With such extraordinary performances, Afridi is also on the list for being awarded the most Man Of The Match awards: 31 times in his career. On the list of most Man Of The Match awards won by players in history, Afridi sits at number 5. Top of the list is Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar with 62 of these awards.
Afridi announced retirement from Test Cricket in 2010. He always used to say that he never belonged in the Test format and his style of playing was better suited to limited overs cricket. Despite that, this living legend has many records in the Test format too. Afridi smashed 27 runs in an over by Harbhajan Singh and earned himself a second spot on ‘most runs off one over’ list in Test Cricket history. He has always enjoyed playing spin-bowling, in 2006, Afridi hit four consecutive six in an over by Harbhajan Singh, in a Test match at Lahore.
This legend will be retiring from the ODI format after the Cricket World Cup 2015. He has inspired many young players and he has the passion that is really needed to be a dedicated cricket player. He will be playing the shortest format of cricket, T20, until the next T20 World Cup, but once he retires from all formats, the cricketing world will surely miss the ‘Boom Boom’ on the ground.
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