Shahid Afridi

Shahid Afridi is a Pakistani cricketer

Shahid Khan Afridi popularly known as Boom Boom, is a former Pakistani cricketer and former captain of the Pakistan national cricket team.As a successful All-rounder, Afridi was respected for his consistent bowling that relies on change of pace rather than spin, but drew greater attention for his aggressive batting style.Afridi was the world record holder for the fastest ODI century in 37 deliveries and holds the distinction of having hit the most number of sixes in the history of ODI cricket.

Afridi considers himself a better bowler than batsman, and has taken 48 Test wickets and over 350 in ODIs. Currently Afridi is leading the chart of most T20I wickets with 98 wickets from 99 matches. He also holds a record of taking most wickets and most player-of-the match awards in Twenty20 International cricket.

His general style of batting is very aggressive and attack oriented and has earned him the nickname "Boom Boom". Moreover, out of the seven fastest ODI centuries of all time, Afridi has produced three of them.As of May 2013, he has an ODI strike rate of 114.53 runs per 100 balls, the third highest in the game's history. This attitude has been transferred to Test cricket as well, with Afridi scoring at a relatively high strike rate of 86.97.

He hits many sixes long and high, favouring straight down the ground or over midwicket. His trademark shot is a cross-batted flick to the leg-side to a ball outside off stump. However, his aggressive style increases his risk of getting out and he is one of the most inconsistent batsmen in cricket. This is reflected by the fact that he is the only player to score more than 7,000 ODI runs at an average under 25. Afridi is the only player in the world who has scored 1,000 runs and 50 wickets in the T20 format of the game.Afridi has moved about the batting order, and this lack of consistency has made it difficult for him to settle. In the Indian subcontinent, where the ball quickly loses its shine, he prefers to open the batting; however, elsewhere he prefers to bat at number six.