Shahid Afridi

Shahid Afridi biography

Shahid Afridi (Urdu: شاہدآفریدی‎), born Sahibzada Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi also known as Boom Boom Afridi born on 1 March 1980)^[2] is a Pakistani cricketer. Between 1996 and 2012, Afridi played 27 Tests, 350 One Day Internationals, and 59 Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) for the Pakistani national team. He made his ODI debut on 2 October 1996 against Kenyaand his Test debut on 22 October 1998 against Australia. Afridi has played more ODI matches than any other Pakistani cricket player. ^[3]

He is known for his aggressive batting style,^[4] and previously held the record for the fastest ODI century i.e.in 37 deliveries,(Now broken by Corey Anderson who took one delivery less i.e.36 deliveries) which he made in his first international innings, as well as scoring 32 runs in a single over, the third highest scoring over ever in an ODI.^[5] He also holds the distinction of having hit the most number of sixes in the history of ODI cricket.^[6] Afridi considers himself a better bowler than batsman, and has taken 48 Test wickets and over 350 in ODIs. Currently Afridi is third on the list of leading wicket takers in the Twenty20 format, behind Saeed Ajmal and Umer Gul of Pakistan, taking 73 wickets from 70 matches.^[7] Shahid Afridi has signed to play for Sydney Thunder in Australia’s Twenty20 Big Bash league.^[8] In June 2009, Afridi took over the Twenty20 captaincy fromYounus Khan, and was later appointed ODI captain for the 2010 Asia Cup. In his first match as ODI captain against Sri Lanka he scored a century however Pakistan still lost by 16 runs. He then also took over the Test captaincy but resigned after one match in charge citing lack of form and ability to play Test cricket; at the same time he announced his retirement from Tests. He retained the captaincy in limited-overs form of the game and led the team in the 2011 World Cup. In May 2011, having led Pakistan in 34 ODIs, Afridi was replaced as captain. Later that month he announced his conditional retirement from international cricket in protest against his treatment by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). However, in October he reversed his decision. UNICEF and Pakistani authorities have taken Shahid Afridi on board for its anti-polio campaign in the tribal belt of lawless Waziristan region.^[9]

Shahid Afridi

Abdul Razzaq

Abdul Razzaq biography

Abdul Razzaq (Urdu: عبد الرزاق, born 2 December 1979) is a Pakistani right arm fast-medium bowler and a right-handedbatsman and a member of Pakistan cricket team. He emerged in international cricket in 1996 with his One Day Internationaldebut against Zimbabwe at his home ground in Gaddafi Stadium, Pakistan, just one month before his seventeenth birthday. He has played 265 ODIs and 46 Tests for Pakistan.

Early career[edit]

Razzaq made his One Day International debut in November 1996, against Zimbabwe, but had to wait just over three years to make his Test cricket debut for Pakistan, eventually doing so against Australia in Brisbane on November 1999. In the 1999–2000 Carlton and United Series, he rose to fame and was named man of the series for his all round performance. During a match in Hobart against India, Razzaq scored a half century and took five wickets. In the same tournament, he hit former Australian fast bowler, Glenn McGrath for 5 fours, which totaled to 20 runs in one over.

1999 Cricket World Cup[edit]

Razzaq became a regular member of his national side during the 1999 world cup held in England. During the event, he got the attention of selectors as he performed well both with the ball and bat. His brilliant performance with the bat came in the group match against Australia, where he went on to score his first half century making 60 runs in a long and stable partnership withInzamam-ul-Haq, which helped Pakistan reach a defendable target of 275.^[1] Pakistan went on to win the match by ten runs and as a result qualified for the Super Six stage.^[1] With the ball, he made a brilliant performance against the tough West Indian cricket team by taking three wickets for 32 runs having three maiden overs, which proved decisive for Pakistan at Bristol.^[2]

2000 Carlton & United Series[edit]

Razzaq's other impressive performances came during the Carlton & United Series at Australia in a tri-nation tournament involving Pakistan, Australia and India in 2000. Razzaq achieved the man of the series award for his best all round performances, especially in a pre-finals match against India, where he scored 70 not out with the bat and took 5 wickets for 43 runs, thus becoming the fifth all-rounder to have scored a half century and take five wickets in a match; the other four players being Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, Ian Botham and Sourav Ganguly; Shahid Afridi subsequently achieved the feat.

In the first match of the series against Australia, he took 4 wickets and played an important role for Pakistan helping them to successfully defend a very low target of just 187 runs at Brisbane. In the third match of the series, Razzaq came into prominence after hitting five consecutive boundaries in the fifth over of Australian pacer Glenn McGrath. Eventually Pakistan was defeated in the finals by Australia but Razzaq was named player of the series for his all-round performance.

Abdul Razzaq

Imran Nazir

Imran Nazir biography

Imran Nazir (Punjabi: عمران نذیر) (born 16 December 1981) is a Pakistani cricket Opening batsman who plays in the Pakistan national cricket team in Test cricket, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket formats.

Nazir made his debut in Test cricket in March 1999 against Sri Lanka at Lahore in Pakistan, and his One Day Internationaldebut against the same opposition at Visakhapatnam in India. He played in 8 Test matches between 1999–2002 and secured a spot in the Pakistan squad since 2002. He also played in One Day International arena, but he could never cement his place in the squad. The emergence of several Pakistan opening batsmen such as Imran Farhat, Mohammad Hafeez, Yasir Hameed,Taufeeq Umar, and Salman Butt kept him out of the national side. However, he displayed excellent cricketing performances inFirst class cricket.

Nazir made his return to the national team in the second One Day International against South Africa in February 2007 duringPakistan's tour of South Africa. He impressed the Pakistan national selectors with his innings of 57 runs from just 39 deliveries, though he struggled to score runs during the rest of the tournament.

Nazir was named in Pakistan's squad for the 2007 World Cup. He scored 160 runs against Zimbabwe in Pakistan's last match during the 2007 Cricket World Cup, after being knocked out by Ireland.

It was the second highest score by a Pakistani batsman and the eighth highest score by any batsman in World Cup history and his 8 sixes equalled the World Cup record of Australian batsman, Ricky Ponting.^[1] It was also the highest runs he scored in List A cricket.^[2] He now remains a regular member of Pakistan's Twenty20 squads.

In 2008, Nazir signed for the Indian Cricket League and played for the Lahore Badshahs. He scored 111 runs not out, off just 44 deliveries, against the Hyderabad Heroes in the third of the best of three finals of the tournament and helped his team achieve victory. After signing up for the Indian Cricket League, his chances of ever playing again for Pakistan looked slim. However, on 2 February 2009, a Pakistani court suspended the ban on Indian Cricket League players,^[3] which paved the way for Nazir to make a return to the One Day International and Twenty20 squad during their tour of Sri Lanka in August 2009. He was given another chance against New Zealand int two T20I's held in Dubai which Pakistan won 2–0. Next time, he was given a chance against Australia in only T20I in Australia but could not bat much. He showed the same form against England in February 2010 in two T2OI's and was consequently dropped from the Pakistani side.^{[citation needed]} Since then, he has played two National T20 cups. He was selected for the Hong Kong Sixes tournament 2010 in Hong Kong as a member of Pakistani squad. The final match, which was in Pakistan's favour, was lost due to Imran Nazir's bowling. 46 runs was required from the last 8-ball over but Imran Nazir gave away 48 runs in 7 balls.^{[citation needed]}

In Twenty20 games he has a bowling average of 1.00 and in his 8 deliveries he has 3 wickets a strike rate of less than 3. He has also played for Dhaka Dynamites in Bangladesh's NCL T20 Bangladesh. He has played for Dhaka Gladiators in Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). He has played 7 matches in BPL and has scored 207 runs with an average of 41.4 runs per game. He has a Strike Rate of 150. His highest score is 58 and he has scored 2 half centuries in this tournament and has hit twenty one 4s and nine 6s.^{[citation needed]}

Nazir was recalled to the Pakistan team in September 2012 for the Twenty20 series against Australia and the following ICC World Twenty20 which was held in Sri Lanka. He scored 153 runs in 6 matches with a reasonable average of 25.50 and with a marvelous strike rate of 150.00 which included a match winning innings of 72 against Bangladesh.^[4]^[5] Nazir has not played international cricket since October 2012.^[6]

Imran Nazir