Pakistan’s star pacer Shaheen Afridi could break another record during the ongoing ICC World Cup 2023.
The lanky pacer, who currently has 95 wickets in 48 matches, could become the fastest to reach 100 ODI wickets for Pakistan.
Legendary Pakistan off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq currently holds the record after achieving the feat in 53 matches.
In order to break Saqlain’s record, Shaheen needs to claim five wickets in his next four matches.
Yesterday, Afridi overtook former Green Shirts' bowler Mohammad Amir to become the left-arm pacer with the second most international wickets for Pakistan.
The 23-year-old achieved the feat during the 18th match of the World Cup against Australia in Bengaluru on Friday.
Afridi had 259 wickets before Friday’s encounter against Australia, the same as Amir, and with his first two victims today, which were Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell, Shaheen officially overtook the 31-year-old and is now only behind the legendary Wasim Akram as the left-arm with most wickets for the Green Shirts.
Shaheen took a fifer today, taking his international wicket tally to 264, with his victims being Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.
Afridi has now taken 264 international wickets in a total of 127 matches (145 innings) while Amir bagged 259 wickets in 147 matches (177 innings).
Meanwhile, Wasim Akram took 916 wickets with his magical left hand in 460 matches (532 innings).
Shaheen bagged his second World Cup five-wicket haul, having recorded figures of 6/35 against Bangladesh during the 2019 tournament, which made him just the second Pakistan player —after his father-in-law — Shahid Afridi to have two World Cup five-wicket hauls to his name.
Afridi's figures of 5/54 on Friday are also the best for any bowler thus far in the 2023 World Cup.
- Shaheen Afridi