Dubai: Former Pakistan captain and swashbuckling allrounder Shahid Afridi turned 38 on Thursday. Afridi, who made his debut in cricket as a 16-year-old and slammed a record-breaking 37 ball 100 at the same age, has had an illustrious cricketing career. Interestingly, he was brought into the national squad as a replacement for leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed (injured) in the Sameer Cup in 1996-97 but took the world by storm with his batting exploits. In ODI cricket he scored 8064 runs and bagged 395 wickets. He is also the record wicket-taker in T20Is with 97 wickets.
On the joyous occasion, Afridi thanked his fans and followers in a tweet and said, “It’s another year to look back and learn and look forward in hope, to deliver for my nation and fans. I thank you all for wishing me birthday, all of you are the source of my joy and happiness.”
But it was in the shortest format of the game that Afridi showed his immense prowess. For his brilliant all-round performance in the inaugural World T20, he was adjudged as the Man of the Series. In the next edition of the T20 World Cup, he led the Pakistani to victory.
Shahid Afridi remains one of the most prolific cricketers to have emerged from Pakistan and is currently playing for Karachi Kings in the ongoing third season of Pakistan Super League (PSL). However, what has always drawn him close to fans across the globe was his element of unpredictability and surprise. We wish him all the success in his future endeavors.
