Shahid Afridi
Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi Pashto born 1 March 1977 is a Pakistani former cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team. An all rounder Afridi was a right
handed leg spinner and a right handed batsman.
Afridi made his ODI debut in 1996 against Kenya. In his second ODI match against Sri Lanka. He played his first international innings and broke the record for fastest century in ODI cricket doing so in 37 deliveries. He made his Test debut against Australia in 1998. Afridi made his T20I debut against England in 2006. Afridi was named player of the tournament of the 2007 T20 World Cup. Afridi was player of the match in the final of the 2009 T20 World Cup scoring an unbeaten 54 and getting figures of 1/20 off of 4 overs as Pakistan went on to win the final. Shortly after Pakistan's win at the 2009 World Cup Pakistan's captain, Younis Khan, announced his retirement from T20Is and Afridi was appointed as his successor. In 2010, Afridi was appointed Pakistan's ODI captain after the sacking of Mohammad Yousuf. Afridi was also appointed Pakistan's Test captain but retired from the format after one match as captain. He led the Pakistan team in the 2011 Cricket World Cup where they reached the semi-finals before losing to rival India. In 2011 Afridi was removed as ODI captain. In 2015 Afridi retired from ODI cricket. After Pakistan's group stage elimination from the 2016 T20 World Cup Afridi stepped
down from captaincy. He was not selected afterwards and on 19 February 2017 Afridi announced his retirement from international cricket. He made a brief return to international cricket after being selected to represent and captain the World XI against the West Indies in the 2018 Hurricane Relief T20 Challenge charity match. Following the conclusion of the match Afridi announced his retirement from international cricket again on 31 May 2018. He served as the interim chief selector of the Pakistan cricket team for Pakistan's series against New Zealand.
Early and personal life
Afridi was born in Khyber Agency, Pakistan, to an Afridi tribe of Pashtuns in 1977.
He belongs to a family of Sufi pirs teachers or spiritual masters and his grandfather Maulana Muhammad Ilyas was a well known spiritual figure in Bhutan Sharif a locality in the Tirah Valley. His other grandfather, Sahibzada Abdul Baqi was given the title Ghazi e Kashmir conqueror of Kashmir for his efforts during the Indo Pakistani War of 1947 1948.
He is married to his maternal cousin Nadia Afridi and has five daughters. In 2021 Afridi announced his daughter Ansha's engagement to cricketer Shaheen Afridi. On 3 February 2023 his daughter Ansha married Shaheen Afridi in a nikah ceremony.
Domestic career
T20 franchise career
IPL career
Afridi was signed by Deccan Chargers, and played in the inaugural season of the IPL. He could only score 81 runs in 10 matches and picked up 9 wickets in the tournament.He did not play in the 2nd edition of IPL due to the tense atmosphere after the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Pakistan Super League
In the 2016 PSL, Afridi was a part of the franchise Peshawar Zalmi as captain and as their icon player. After the end of the 1st season, Afridi was made the president of Peshawar Zalmi. Afridi stepped down as Peshawar Zalmi captain before the start of the 2017 PSL and gave the captaincy to Daren Sammy. Peshawar went on to win the title. After the end of the second season, Afridi left Peshawar Zalmi. Afridi joined Karachi Kings for the 2018 PSL and was also made the President of Karachi Kings. He also transferred to Karachi as a player ahead of PSL drafts. Afridi left Karachi after they didn't retain him for the 2019 PSL. In the 2019 PSL draft, Afridi was picked by the Multan Sultans in the platinum category.During the 2020 PSL draft Multan Sultans retained Afridi as a mentor. He was retained by Multan Sultans again prior to the 2021 PSL. Afridi played the initial part of the 2021 PSL but missed the remainder of the rescheduled tournament due to a back injury. For the 2022 PSL, Afridi played for Quetta Gladiators in what he announced would be his last PSL season. He later withdrew mid season due to back problems.
Other Leagues
In June 2004, Afridi signed with English county side Kent to play for them in three Twenty20 matches and one Totesport League match.Afridi played for Southern Redbacks in the 2009 10 KFC Twenty20 Big Bash. He was part of Ruhuna Royals in 2012 Sri Lanka Premier League but he returned to Pakistan midway through the tournament to attend his ailing wife.
In January 2015, Afridi was signed by Northamptonshire Steelbacks for the 2015 T20 Blast.where he reached to the final. In 2016, his services were acquired by Rangpur Riders for the fourth edition of Bangladesh Premier League.
Shahid Afridi was part of the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in the third season of the Caribbean Premier League. He was included in the squad of Jamaica Tallawahs for the sixth edition of Caribbean Premier League but pulled out before the start of the tournament due to knee injury.
In 2018, Afridi was chosen as an icon player and captain by the Paktia Panthers in the first season of Afghanistan Premier League. In June 2019, he was selected to play for the Brampton Wolves franchise team in the 2019 Global T20 Canada tournament.In July 2019, he was selected to play for the Belfast Titans in the inaugural edition of the Euro T20 Slam cricket tournament. However, the following month the tournament was cancelled. For the sixth edition of Bangladesh Premier League, he was included in the A+ category and was signed by Comilla Victorians. In November 2019, he was selected to play for the Dhaka Platoon in the 2019 20 Bangladesh Premier League. In October 2020, he was drafted by the Galle Gladiators for the inaugural edition of the Lanka Premier League.
In July 2021. He was picked by Rawalakot Hawks for the first edition of the Kashmir Premier League. He was also announced as the Brand Ambassador of the KPL. Initially he was picked by Muzaffarabad Tigers but later he parted ways with Muzaffarabad Tigers to join Rawalakot Hawks and led the team to the title.On 26 July 2021, Afridi was signed by Kathmandu Kings XI to play in Nepal's Everest Premier League.
For the 2022 KPL, Afridi joined Jammu Janbaz as a mentor.Jammu Janbaz finished 5th and were eliminated in the group stage. In June 2022.He joined Mardan Warriors as a mentor for the inaugural season of Pakistan Junior League.
T10 franchise career
In 2017, Afridi was announced as the brand ambassador of newly inaugurated T10 League in UAE. He was also signed by Team Pakhtoons and was given the captaincy. He was signed by Qalandars in 2020 as the icon player for the franchise.He had previously signed a similar deal in 2019 but the Pakistan Cricket Board PCB decided against issuing NOCs to Pakistan players for the tournament.
Afridi was chosen as the brand ambassador for the Qatar Premier T10 Cricket League (QPL) which was launched in 2019 by Qatar Cricket Association.
He was signed by Bangla Tigers for the 2021 22 T10 League.
In 2022 Afridi launched his own T10 league called the Mega Stars League.
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