Sahibzada Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi (Urdu: شاہد افریدی; Pashto: شاهد افریدی; born 1 March 1975), known as Shahid Afridi, is a Pakistani cricketer and the former captain of the Pakistan national cricket team. He is widely considered one of the most popular cricketers of all time. An all-rounder, Afridi bowled leg spin and was recognized for his aggressive batting. Afridi was also a world record holder, holding the record for the fastest ODI century, in 37 deliveries. The record stood for 17 years before being broken by Corey Anderson. He also holds the record for having hit the most sixes in the history of ODI cricket. Bowling-wise Afridi, who considers himself a better bowler than batsman, has taken 395 wickets in ODI and 48 Test wickets. In addition he has also taken 98 T20I wickets.
Afridi was player of the match in the 2009 T20 World Cup Final of the 2009 T20 World Cup scoring an unbeaten 54, having also been the player of the tournament in the 2007 edition. He led the Pakistan team in the 2011 Cricket World Cup where they reached the semi-finals before losing to rival India. In January 2010, he was banned for the rest of the series against Australia after biting the ball in an act of ball tampering. In Test's Afridi was captain for just one match before resigning and retiring from the format, a move which allowed Salman Butt to replace him. After Pakistan's group stage elimination from the 2016 T20 World Cup, Afridi said he was stepping down from captaincy but not retiring. However he was not selected afterwards and on 19 February 2017, Afridi announced his retirement from international cricket. He made a brief return to international cricket after being selected to represent and captain the World XI against the West Indies in the 2018 Hurricane Relief T20 Challenge charity match. Following the conclusion of the match, Afridi announced his retirement from international cricket on 31 May 2018.
Domestically Afridi has represented many teams. He was the captain of Peshawar Zalmi in the 2016 Pakistan Super League, having been the first player to be picked in the competition, and won the trophy with them in 2017. He also represented the Karachi Kings in 2018 and currently plays for the Multan Sultans in the PSL. He has also played for Hampshire scoring his only T20 century with them and is the current captain of Galle Gladiators in the Lanka Premier League.
Away from cricket Afridi runs his own charity, the Shahid Afridi Foundation which aims to provide education and healthcare facilities. He also teamed up with UNICEF to promote the anti-polio campaign in the country. During the 2019 Coronavirus pandemic, he was involved in helping people across Balochistan during the lockdown in the country. This led to him contracting COVID-19 on June 13, 2020. Afridi was also nominated among the top 20 most charitable athletes of 2015.
