Shaheen Shah Afridi (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

: ; born 6 April 2000) is a Pakistani professional

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er who plays as a fast bowler for the

Pakistan national cricket team The Pakistan national cricket team or Pak cricket team, often referred to as the Shaheens (), Green Shirts, Men in Green and Cornered Tigers is administered by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The team is a Full Member of the International ...

Early life and career

Afridi belongs to the Zakhakhel Afridi tribe of the

Pashtuns Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically r ...

. He grew up in

Landi Kotal Lanḍī Kōtal ( ps, لنډي کوتل, ur, ) or Lwargai ( ps, لواړګی ''Lwāṛgai'') is a town in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, and the administrative capital of Khyber District. It was one of the largest towns in the form ...

, a town in

Khyber District Khyber District ( ps, خېبر ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Peshawar Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Until 2018, it was an agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas; with the merger of FATA with Khyber Pa ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

, on the border with

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. He is the youngest of seven brothers; his eldest brother, 15 years his senior, is

Riaz Afridi Riaz Afridi ( ur, ; born 21 January 1985) is a Pakistani cricket coach and cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler. In December 2017, his youngest brother Shaheen Afridi was named in Pakistan's squad for t ...

who played a solitary

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

for Pakistan in 2004. Shaheen started his cricket career from the Tatara Ground in Landi Kotal, which is named after the nearby Tatara hills. Riaz Afridi introduced Shaheen to hard-ball cricket at the

FATA , conventional_long_name = Federally Administered Tribal Areas , nation = Pakistan , subdivision = Autonomous territory , image_flag = Flag of FATA.svg , image_coat = File:Coat of arms ...

Under-16 trials in 2015, with Shaheen having played only tennis-ball cricket until then. Success at this level led to Shaheen being selected for the Under-16 tour of Australia in November 2015, where he played his part with four wickets in the 2–1 victories in the One-Day and Twenty20 series.

Domestic and T20 career

In December 2016, Afridi was included in the

Pakistan Under-19 cricket team Pakistan Under-19 cricket team are twice ( 2004 and 2006) Cricket World Champions at the under-19 level. Their second win made them the first, and to date only, back-to-back champions. They are also 3 time runners-up (1988, 2010 & 2014) and ha ...

selected for the 2016 Under-19 Asia Cup held in Sri Lanka. He took 3 wickets for 27 runs in Pakistan's nine wickets win over Singapore in their opening match of the U-19 Asia Cup. In early September 2017, Afridi signed a two-year contract with Dhaka Dynamites, a major Bangladesh Premier League franchise. Later he made his first-class debut for

Khan Research Laboratories The Dr. A. Q. Khan Research Laboratories, ( ur, ) or KRL for short, is a federally funded, multi-program national research institute and national laboratory site primarily dedicated to uranium enrichment, supercomputing and fluid mechanics. It ...

in the 2017–18 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy on 26 September 2017. In the second innings of the match, he took 8 wickets for 39 runs, the best figures by a Pakistani bowler on first-class debut. In December 2017, Afridi was named in Pakistan's squad for the 2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. He was the leading wicket-taker for Pakistan in the tournament, with 12 wickets. Following Pakistan's matches in the tournament, the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are 108 national associations, with 12 Full Members and 96 Associate Members. Founded in 1909 as the ' ...

(ICC) named Afridi as the rising star of the squad. Afridi made his

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single inn ...

debut for

Lahore Qalandars Lahore Qalandars ( ur, ; pnb, لہور قلندرز; abbreviated as LQ) is a Pakistani professional cricket franchise which plays in the Pakistan Super League, representing the city of Lahore. The home ground of the team is Gaddafi Stadium. ...

in the

2018 Pakistan Super League The 2018 Pakistan Super League (also known as PSL 3 or for sponsorship reasons, HBL PSL 2018) was the third season of the Pakistan Super League, a franchise Twenty20 cricket league which was established by the Pakistan Cricket Board in 2015. I ...

(PSL) on 23 February 2018. The following month in the PSL, during Lahore's match with the

Multan Sultans Multan Sultans (Urdu: ) is a Pakistani professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team representing the city of Multan in southern Pakistan in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The team was founded in 2017 as an additional sixth team added to the P ...

, Afridi took five wickets for four runs. Lahore won the fixture by 6 wickets and Afridi was named the player of the match. In April 2018, Afridi was named in Baluchistan's squad for the 2018 Pakistan Cup. He made his List A debut for Baluchistan on 25 April 2018. In July 2019, Afridi was selected to play for the Rotterdam Rhinos in the inaugural edition of the

Euro T20 Slam The Euro T20 Slam is a planned professional Twenty20 cricket league. The first edition of the tournament was initially scheduled to start in August 2019, with matches to be held in Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands. It's launch has been post ...

cricket tournament. However, the following month the tournament was cancelled. In December 2019, it was announced that Afridi will play for Hampshire County Cricket Club in the

2020 t20 Blast The 2020 Vitality Blast was the 2020 season of the t20 Blast, a professional Twenty20 cricket league being played in England and Wales. It was the third season in which the domestic T20 competition, run by the England and Wales Cricket Board (E ...

in England. In September 2020, Hampshire confirmed his participation in the 2020 t20 Blast, and announced that he will be available after fulfilling his national duties. On 20 September 2020, in the final round of group matches in the t20 Blast, Afridi took a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

and four wickets in four balls, finishing with match figures of 6/19 from his four overs and recording the best ever bowling figures at the Rose Bowl in T20 cricket. On 2 October 2020, in the

2020–21 National T20 Cup The 2020–21 National T20 Cup was a Twenty20 domestic cricket competition that was played in Pakistan. It was the seventeenth season of the National T20 Cup, and started on 30 September 2020, and finished on 18 October 2020. Northern cricket ...

, Afridi took his second five-wicket haul in three T20 games, with figures of 5/20 from his four overs. Three days later, Afridi took another five-wicket haul, with 5/21 in the match against Sindh. In October 2021, Afridi signed with

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

to play in domestic matches in England until July 2022. However, he returned to Pakistan in mid-May to prepare for the national team's home series against the West Indies. In December 2021, he was named as a captain of Lahore Qalandars. Under his captaincy, Qalandars won the 2022 PSL which also made him the youngest captain to win a T20 league. He also ended as leading wicket-taker of the tournament.

International career

Prince William (Duke of Cambridge), Shaheen Afridi

In March 2018, he was named in Pakistan's

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

(T20I) squad for their series against the West Indies. He made his T20I debut for Pakistan against the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

on 3 April 2018. In September 2018, he was named in Pakistan's One Day International (ODI) squad for the 2018 Asia Cup. He made his ODI debut for Pakistan against

on 21 September 2018. In November 2018, he was named in Pakistan's

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

squad for their series against New Zealand. He made his Test debut for Pakistan against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

on 3 December 2018. In April 2019, he was named in Pakistan's squad for the

2019 Cricket World Cup The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted between 30 May ...

. On 5 July 2019, in the match against

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

, Shaheen became the youngest bowler to take a five-wicket haul in a World Cup match, finishing with figures of 6/35. These were also the best bowling figures by a bowler for Pakistan in a World Cup match. Following the World Cup, the

(ICC) named Afridi as the rising star of the squad. In December 2019, during the second Test match against Sri Lanka, Afridi took his first five-wicket haul in Test cricket. In June 2020, he was named in a 29-man squad for Pakistan's tour to England during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. In July, he was shortlisted in Pakistan's 20-man squad for the Test matches against England. In September 2021, he was named in Pakistan's squad for the

2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the seventh ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament, with the matches played in the United Arab Emirates and Oman from 17 October to 14 November 2021. The West Indies were the defending champions, but were eventu ...

. In January 2022, Afridi was named the Cricketer of the Year by the

. He took 78 wickets in 36 international matches in 2021.

Personal life

In March 2021, it was reported that Shaheen Shah Afridi will be engaged to Shahid Afridi's elder daughter Ansha. In July 2022, Afridi was honoured with an "honorary" Deputy Superintendent of the Police (DSP) rank in the KPK Police as a goodwill ambassador.

Awards

* PCB's Impactful performance of the year: 2021 * Shaheen named in

ICC Men's Test Team of the Year The ICC Men's Test Team of the Year is an honour awarded each year by the International Cricket Council. It recognises the top cricket players from around the world in the Test format of the game. The team does not actually compete, but exists s ...

for the year 2021. * Named in

ICC Men's T20I Team of the Year The ICC Men's T20I Team of the Year is an honour awarded each year by the International Cricket Council. It recognizes the top men's cricket players from around the world in the Twenty20 International format of the game. The team does not actually ...

for the year 2021. * He won the Sir Garfield Sobers for the ICC Men's cricketer of the Year of 2021. * Became K-P police goodwill ambassador in 2022.

References

External links

*
Shaheen Shah Afridi
at

Pakistan Cricket Board The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is a sports governing body for cricket in Pakistan responsible for controlling and organising all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan national cricket team. A member of the International Cricket Counc ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Afridi, Shaheen 2000 births Afridi people Baluchistan cricketers Cricketers at the 2019 Cricket World Cup Dhaka Dynamites cricketers Hampshire cricketers Khan Research Laboratories cricketers Lahore Qalandars cricketers Living people Middlesex cricketers Pakistani cricketers Pakistan Test cricketers Pakistan One Day International cricketers Pakistan Twenty20 International cricketers Pashtun people People from Khyber District International Cricket Council Cricketer of the Year