Records held by former Pakistani all-rounder Shahid Afridi
Shahid Afridi has been arguably one of the best entertainers of all time. He has been a star in his home country of Pakistan and is loved by cricket fans across the world.
His playing style borders on risk-taking and adventure. He is a showman too and loves to be himself on the field and really express his emotions, a quality which has made him even more popular with his fans.
Record maker in both ODIs and Tests
Apart from entertaining, though, Afridi has also set quite a cricketing few records.
He was the owner of the record for the fastest century in ODI cricket history, taking only 37 balls to overtake previous-holder Sanath Jayasuriya, before AB de Villiers smashed the record in 31 deliveries.
The youngest player to ever do so aged 16 years and 217 days, he had also set the record for the most number of sixes in an ODI at the time with 11 big ones.
The Pakistani all-rounder also holds the record for the most number of consecutive sixes hit in Test cricket, having hit four in a row against Harbhajan Singh in 2006. He also holds the record of scoring the second most number of runs in a Test over with 27 of the same Harbhajan Singh over.
Another record possessed by Afridi is for the longest six ever hit in an ODI when he managed a huge 158m long six against South Africa at Johannesburg in 2013.
Add to that, he had even held the record for the second fastest 50 in ODI cricket behind Sanath Jayasuriya at one point of time. He has also scored 18-ball half-centuries on four different occasions in his career, which is a statistic that really showcases his pinch-hitting prowess.
Here’s a video of that innings which landed Afridi on the big stage:
Highest number of sixes in ODI cricket by Shahid Afridi
Afridi also holds the record for most number of sixes hit in ODI cricket, with 351 sixes. No one else has touched the number 300. The next two in the list are Sanath Jayasuriya and Chris Gayle.
Apart from this, the Pakistani is also sixth on the list for the highest strike rate in ODI cricket history.
His career strike rate is 117, and he is also one of only two players who have played more than 200 ODIs and have a strike rate of more than 100. The other one being Virender Sehwag.
| Batsman | Sixes | Matches | Highest Score | 100s | 50s | Strike rate |
| Shahid Afridi | 351 | 398 | 124 | 6 | 39 | 117 |
| Sanath Jayasuriya | 270 | 445 | 189 | 28 | 68 | 91.21 |
| Chris Gayle | 229 | 266 | 215* | 22 | 46 | 84.82 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 195 | 463 | 200* | 49 | 96 | 86.23 |
| Saurav Ganguly | 190 | 311 | 183 | 22 | 72 | 73.70 |
| MS Dhoni | 178 | 256 | 183* | 9 | 56 |
89.00 |
| Brendon McCullum | 177 | 243 | 166 | 5 | 29 | 93.01 |
Afridi also has 32 Man-of-the-Match awards for Pakistan in ODI cricket, the highest for any player from Pakistan. The second best in that list is Saeed Anwar with 28.
It clearly shows that apart from being an entertainer, he has also been a big match-winner for his country.
Afridi is the fifth highest in this category with only Ponting, Kallis, Jayasuriya and Tendulkar above him. The world record in this category is 62, held by Sachin Tendulkar from India.
Heroics in T20 cricket
Afridi has also been a top performer in the shortest format of the game, which is more suited to his explosive style of batting.
He holds the world record for the highest number of Man-of-the-Match awards in T20 cricket with nine, including one for a very important performance in Pakistan’s T20 World Cup victory over Sri Lanka in the final of the 2009 edition.
Apart from this, he has won three Man-of-the-Series awards on the T20 circuit.