Muhammad Touqeer: November 2009

Full name Sahibzada Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi

Born March 1, 1980, Khyber Agency

Current age 29 years 254 days

Major teams Pakistan, Asia XI, Deccan Chargers, Griqualand West, Habib Bank Limited, ICC World XI, Karachi, Leicestershire

Batting style Right-hand bat

Bowling style Legbreak googly

Relation Brother - Tariq Afridi, Brother - Ashfaq Afridi

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct
Tests	26	46	1	1683	156	37.40	1954	86.13	5	8	216	50	10
ODIs	288	270	18	5830	109	23.13	5259	110.85	4	30	537	253	97
T20Is	24	22	2	421	54*	21.05	285	147.71	0	3	37	14	7
First-class	109	180	4	5598	164	31.80			12	30			75
List A	376	355	21	8422	114	25.21			6	49			117
Twenty20	50	44	3	745	54*	18.17	486	153.29	0	3	64	32	16

Bowling averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w
Tests	26	45	3092	1640	47	5/52	5/43	34.89	3.18	65.7	1	1
ODIs	288	264	12075	9287	269	6/38	6/38	34.52	4.61	44.8	2	3
T20Is	24	24	561	535	34	4/11	4/11	15.73	5.72	16.5	2	0
First-class	109		13391	6954	257	6/101		27.05	3.11	52.1		8
List A	376		15990	12303	367	6/38	6/38	33.52	4.61	43.5	3	5
Twenty20	50	50	1074	1090	62	4/11	4/11	17.58	6.08	17.3	2	0

Career statistics

Test debut	Pakistan v Australia at Karachi, Oct 22-26, 1998 scorecard
Last Test	England v Pakistan at Manchester, Jul 27-29, 2006 scorecard
Test statistics
ODI debut	Kenya v Pakistan at Nairobi (Aga), Oct 2, 1996 scorecard
Last ODI	New Zealand v Pakistan at Abu Dhabi, Nov 9, 2009 scorecard
ODI statistics
T20I debut	England v Pakistan at Bristol, Aug 28, 2006 scorecard
Last T20I	Sri Lanka v Pakistan at Colombo (RPS), Aug 12, 2009 scorecard
T20I statistics
First-class debut	1995/96
Last First-class	Lahore Shalimar v Habib Bank Limited at Lahore, Jan 26-29, 2009 scorecard
List A debut	1995/96
Last List A	New Zealand v Pakistan at Abu Dhabi, Nov 9, 2009 scorecard
Twenty20 debut	Kent v Middlesex at Maidstone, Jul 2, 2004 scorecard
Last Twenty20	Sri Lanka v Pakistan at Colombo (RPS), Aug 12, 2009 scorecard

Profile

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. 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. 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. 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. 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 drifted out of the Test side and his place in the ODI side was in flux for a while, until the Twenty20 format gave him a new lease of life. He was player of the tournament in the inaugural 2007 World Twenty20 but it was in the second edition, two years later, that he lit up the world as he had once done in 1996. His legspin was a threat throughout, but two remarkably cool, composed (but still brisk) fifties in the semi-final and final led Pakistan to a famous and much-needed world title. Never has Afridi's own fluctuations so mirrored Pakistan's, but by tournament's end, he had ensured that no matter how he might have frittered his early career, his contribution to Pakistan cricket would now never be forgotten. And it was done in a style that no one will match.
Cricinfo Staff June 2009

Muhammad Touqeer

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