He is known for his aggressive batting style, and holds the record for the fastest ODI century which he made in his first international innings, as well as scoring 32 runs in a single over, the second highest scoring over ever in an ODI. He also 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 third on the list of leading wicket takers in the Twenty20 format, behind Saeed Ajmal and Umer Gul of Pakistan, taking 62 wickets from 56 matches. Shahid Afridi has signed to play for Sydney Thunder in Australia’s Twenty20 Big Bash league. In June 2009, Afridi took over the Twenty20 captaincy from Younus 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.
Fastest Century:
In his second One-day International, and his very first innings, Shahid Afridi walked in with Waqar Younis' bat [gifted to Waqar by Sachin Tendulkar], and blasted the then World Champions, Sri Lanka for the fastest ever 100 in one-day International cricket. His destructive innings brought up three figures in just 37 balls.
Afridi also holds the record for the 4th (100 of 45 deliveries) and 7th(100 of 53 deliveries) fastest hundreds which he smashed against India and Bangladesh respectively.
Fastest Fifty:
Shahid Afridi also holds the record for twice hitting the second fastest fifty in one-day Internationals (off 18 deliveries), and he has the record for hitting the 5th fastest fifty to his name as well (off 19 deliveries).
Shahid Afridi has also scored fifties off 20,21 and 22 deliveries.
Youngest player to score a hundred:
Shahid Afridi is the youngest player ever to hit a one-day International's century. He scored his first century of International career at the age of just 16-years and 217-days.
Highest career strike rate:
Shahid Afridi has the *highest strike-rate in one-day International's [5882 runs] at a strike-rate of 113.82 per 100 balls.
*Minimum qualification for this record [1000 ODI runs]
Most sixes in career:
Shahid Afridi holds the record for hitting the most sixes in one-day International's, he has so far smashed 289 sixes in 325 matches. Sanath Jayasuriya who is second in the list has 270 sixes to his name in 444 ODI matches.
Most runs off one over:
Shahid Afridi holds the number two position in scoring most run off one over in ODI's, in 2007 he smashed Sri Lanka's CM Bandara for 32 runs in over [the most runs off one over record belongs to South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs 36 in one over].
Most matches in career:
Shahid Afridi is 10th in the list of most one-day International's played by a cricketer. Among the Pakistani cricketers he sits in at number three behind only Inzamam-ul-Haq and Wasim Akram.
Most Man of the Match Awards:
Shahid Afridi has won the man of the match award 24 times in his career, among Pakistani's he is second only to Saeed Anwar who has 28 man of the match awards.
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