Shahid Afridi’s International career in numbers

Throughout his career, Shahid Afridi maintained a unique playing style of smashing from the very first ball he faced irrespective of the situation, the conditions and the formats. His batting might have cost Pakistan a few games while winning with the same play and remained as an entertainer during his 20-year career. Afridi was more than a handy player with the ball as he featured in many games as a specialist spinner and fulfilled his role with match-winning spells.

On the occasion of Shahid Afridi’s 38th birthday, we look at his achievements in International cricket:

2 – Shahid Afridi is only next to Jacques Kallis to score 10000 runs and take 500 wickets in International cricket. He aggregated 11185 runs and picked 540 wickets across the three formats.

2 – Afridi is also one of the two players to score 5000 runs and take 300 wickets in the ODI cricket. He scored 8064 runs and took 395 wickets in the ODI format.

3 – Afridi was the first among the three players who scored 1000 runs and took 50 wickets in the T20I format so far. The Pakistan all-rounder scored 1405 runs and bagged 97 wickets in the T20Is.

4 – Number of consecutive sixes Afridi hit in an over off Harbhajan Singh in the 2006 Lahore Test. Kapil Dev, Afridi and AB de Villiers are the only players to hit four consecutive sixes in an over in Test cricket. The 27 runs Afridi scored in that over are the 2nd most runs ever scored in an over in Test cricket.

4/14 – Shahid Afridi’s bowling figures of 4/14 against New Zealand in the 2010 Christchurch T20I are the best bowling figures for any player as a captain in the T20I format.

7/12 – Afridi’s bowling figures of 7/12 in the 2013 ODI against West Indies are the 2nd best bowling figures in the ODI format. Chaminda Vaas’s bowling figures of 8/19 are the best in this format.

11 – Number of sixes Afridi hit against Sri Lanka during his maiden ODI ton in 1996. These are the most number of sixes hit by a Pakistan player in an ODI. Afridi was also only the 2nd player to hit ten and more sixes in an ODI inning.

18 – Afridi’s fastest fifty in the ODI format is off 18 balls which came on three different occasions. Afridi’s nine ODI fifties in 21 and fewer balls which are also the first nine fastest ODI fifties for Pakistan.

30 – Number of ducks for Shahid Afridi in the ODI format. Only Sanath Jayasuriya (34) bagged more ducks than Afridi in the ODI cricket.

37 – His 37-ball century against Sri Lanka in 1996 stood as the fastest hundred in the ODI format for more than 17 years and still the fastest for Pakistan. He later scored a 45-ball century against India in 2005 which is the joint 5th fastest ODI ton and the 2nd quickest for his country. He is also the only player to score two centuries in less than 50 balls.

97 – Shahid Afridi is the leading wicket-taker in the T20I format with the 97 wickets on his name. By featuring in 98 T20Is, Afridi also stood as the most capped T20I player.

351 – Number of sixes Afridi hit in his ODI career. He is the only player to hit 300 sixes in the ODI cricket. Sanath Jayasuriya’s 270 sixes are the 2nd most in this format.

476 – Afridi is the leading six hitting in the International cricket with 476 sixes. Chris Gayle is nearing the Pakistan player with 454 sixes across all formats.

523 – Number of International appearances for Shahid Afridi. He is the only Pakistan player to feature in 500 International games. Afridi’s 398 ODI appearances are also the most for a Pakistan player.

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