Shahid Afridi is a very famous cricketer from Pakistan. You may know him as Boom Boom since that was the nickname he went by when he was a captain of his country’s state team. He has interesting methods where he relies more on the technique than the pace, which was very rare at the time.
He was also an all-rounder, which made him much more popular amongst the nation. In cricket, one who knows how to battle and how to bowl is called an all-rounder. His cricketing style was pretty aggressive as well, which also helped get him to the spotlight every now and then.
He holds the world record for the fastest ODI ever and he has 37 deliveries to prove it! He also holds the world record for hitting most sixes in history. He says that he is a better bowler than he is a batsman, but many people think he is equally good when it comes to cricketing.
He is topping the charts with 98 wickets at 99 games and holds one more record: most wickets in Twenty20 International cricket.
In February of 2017, he decided that he would step out of the world of cricketing. He says that his golden years already went by and he now wants to have a break from international cricket games and tournaments.
Little did he know that he was going to be back in the game soon enough because he was the captain of World XI in 2018 Hurricane Relief T20 Challenge match. He said that he was contemplating whether to go back or not, but it was a charity match so he decided to go.
After that, on May 31st, 2018, he said that he is retired and that he won’t be revising this decision any time soon. He is the 26th most rich man in Pakistan and therefore he easily gets attention both by men and women wherever he goes.
Early years
Shahid was born on March 1st in the year 1975. His birthplace is Khyber Agency, and his ancestry is very interesting. He comes from the Afridi tribe of Pashtuns. These people are also called Afghans and Pathans.
We don’t know much about his childhood, but we do know that he was an extremely active kid. He always enjoyed sports very much and he said that his favorite part about sports is the fact that he can meet new people, new kids, and get to know them. He was always a pretty talkative guy.
Afridi is married to his cousin from the mother’s side and her name is Nadia Afridi. This has been proclaimed very controversial once worldwide media found out about it, but this is pretty conventional in Pakistan and therefore there hasn’t been a big outbreak in the media there.
He wasn’t even 19 when he was drafted to a national championship. This was a championship specifically for young people and he started to play during season ’94 to ’95. He played for the Karachi Whites and his team did very well. Many recognized his potential and saw that he, with his 42 wickets in only 5 games, was the star of his group and that he is going to be a big star.
His average score was 9.59 and many coaches started to look at him as a possible opportunity for success. He also played against England A later, and he proved his skill in many games while he was with Karachi Whites. Even in senior championships, he showed his remarkable talent.
Career development
His big career started in 1996, during winter, when he was drafted into the ODI team. This was during the Sameer Cup, and he was a replacement only. The injured guy, Mushtaq Ahmed, is now a famous coach and cricketer, and if he was in the game, Shahid says that he would probably not get the position at all.
His first pro game wasn’t too interesting. It was a match against Kenya, and he didn’t really get to play and show off his skills. In the next one, played against Sri Lanka, he did much better and was a pinch-hitter.
He started to break world records pretty soon, both regarding his technique, his effectiveness and the speed of his work. He was very proud of all of it.
Afridi was soon named the man of the match because Pakistan ended up a winner by 82 runs. The records made in this match were later broken by a guy from New Zealand and his name is Corey Anderson.
24 months after his grand debut, he was in a series of matches against Australia. This was in the year 1998. He was already full of ODI experiences, having 66 ones in his sleeve. This was his first Test coming up. His second Test was in January of the next year and it was during the tour Pakistan cricketers hat.
He scored 141 runs from 191 shots and he was very happy about his score. Sadly, this was not enough to keep Pakistan going and they still lost the game.
2001 was a very good year for him because he got a deal with Leicestershire and he did some fantastic work with this club. He scored 164, which was one of his best results.
His biggest games from that time on were those that he played with the Derbyshire County Cricket Club, the ones he played to win the C&G Trophy and, of course, the Twenty20 matches, along with the famous Totesport League. All of these were slowly helping Afridi gain the popularity he needed to pursue his career amongst the best players.
In spring of 2005, he helped Pakistan draw against India, and his performance in the game was called breathtaking. However, after that, big controversy arose as he was convicted of sabotaging a game. The paparazzi near the game noticed that he was scraping his boots. He didn’t hide, though, and said that he was guilty. After this, he had to be benched to resume the game without him.
In 2006, he said that he would be retiring from Test cricket in order to pay more attention to ODIs. He spent more time with his family and tried to reconnect with them since he has been away a lot during his big games.
He wanted to be back and strong for the 2007 World Cup that was just about to come. He played in Ireland as well, but after that came another round of controversy for Shahid.
This time has was sen thrusting a bat at someone who was watching the game. The person said a lot of mean things to him while he was backing out because he was dismissed. He couldn’t play for 4 games and this meant that he was actually going to miss the first 2 games s the World Cup he was so happy about. He didn’t want to create any further trouble for himself, so he decided to let the referee do his thing.
In 2007 he was also at the World Twenty20 tournament and received the award called Man of the Series. He wasn’t too good with the bat but ended up being fantastic with the ball and that’s one of the reasons why he was praised during the season.
In the period between 2009 and 2011, he was a coach ad helped the Pakistan Cricket Board gain success when playing against Australia. However, he was caught doing something forbidden: he did ball-tampering and that’s why he had no access to Twenty 20 internationals no more.
In 2011, he had to return, although he said that he would retire. He was fined for not respecting the contract he signed and that’s the reason he decided to come back, in order to try to resolve this issue without having to pay the huge fine.
In 2013, he played a game against a famous team from Guyana and he scores the 2nd best ODI figures in the history. After the 2015 World cup, he said he would be retiring for good and most of the games he was in later, he was only a referee or a coach.
His turbulent past didn’t really let him get any other deal, though.
Shahid has released his autobiography book titled „Game Changer“ in which he spoke about the spot-fixing scandal which broke out in 2010 and eventually led him to resign from his captain spot.
He stated in the book that he was aware of the special conversations between Mazhar Majeed, the player’s agent and three of accused players named Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif, and Amir Mohammad.
He even spoke about he had alerted the Pakistan team officials about his suspicions, especially after he came upon messages that the agent sent to the players.
This revelations in the book caused further acts. Sindh High Court has filed a demand for stopping further publications of this bestselling autobiography because of his allegations against his former colleague cricketers.
Another thing that he wrote in his book and caused controversy was his conservative view on his daughter’s sport choice: he stated that he is conservative and that they can only play indoor sports which are not public.
Personal life
Shahid is a big philanthropist. He made the Shahid Afridi Foundation ad the organization is trying to provide the basic needs of school and hospitals to fellow people in Pakistan. Do Something, a global organization, named him one of the biggest philanthropists amongst people in sport. This was in August 2015.
Many people think he became a huge philanthropist because he was controversial when he was first creating his career, but others think that he is just genuinely trying to help and develop a better relationship with others.
In 2016, he had an interview on BBC Urdu and he said that Pakistan barely has any talented people. This stirred a whole problem amongst other athletes and viewers because they felt as if he was trying to shame everyone and make them „less relevant”.
In 2019, he was sued by Master Beverages because he was endorsing another drink and he did not have the permission to do so while he was under a contract with them.
Shahid is in a very stable and long marriage with his very own maternal cousin and together they upbring four of their children, all of them being daughters whose names begin with the letter „A”. Asmara, Ajwa, Aqsa, and Ansha.
Later that year he was the center of attention when the world found out that he is as conservative as not letting his daughters play outdoor sports.
He also accused feminists of trying to force a change in the society, but his decision still remains the same way.
Quick summary
Full name: Sahibzada Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi
Date of birth: March 1st, 1980
Birthplace: Khyber, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
Age: 39
Profession: cricket player, coach
Height: 182 cm
Weight: 77 kg
Net Worth: $30 million