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Shahid (Arabic: شَهيد ‎ šahīd, plural: شُهَداء šuhadāʾ, also anglicized as shaheed) is an Arabic word meaning "witness". It is a religious term in Islam, meaning both "witness" and "martyr." While a martyr may die as a consequence of fighting, a shahid is a "witness" because he gives his life out of passion for truth. It is used as an honorific for Muslims who have laid down their life fulfilling a religious commandment, or have died fighting defending their country or protecting their family.

General use[link]

The shahid is considered one whose place in Paradise is promised according to these verses in the Qur'an:

Think not of those who are slain in Allah's way as dead. Nay, they live, finding their sustenance in the presence of their Lord;
They rejoice in the bounty provided by Allah: And with regard to those left behind, who have not yet joined them (in their bliss), the (Martyrs) glory in the fact that on them is no fear, nor have they (cause to) grieve.

—Qur'an, Sura 3 (Al-i-Imran), ayat 169 - 170^[1]

Allah hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs (in return) is the garden (of Paradise): they fight in His cause, and slay and are slain: a promise binding on Him in truth, through the Law, the Gospel, and the Qur'an: and who is more faithful to his covenant than Allah? then rejoice in the bargain which ye have concluded: that is the achievement supreme.

—Qur'an, Sura 9 (At-Tawba), ayah 111^[2]

The Islamic prophet Muhammad is reported to have said these words about martyrdom:

By Him in Whose Hands my life is! I would love to be martyred in Allah's Cause and then get resurrected and then get martyred, and then get resurrected again and then get martyred and then get resurrected again and then get martyred.

—Collected by Muhammad al-Bukhari, Sahih al-Bukhari^[3]

Muslims also believe that God grants the reward of istishhad (martyrdom) to those who die in a variety of ways, including death during childbirth, accidents such as fires and drownings, and epidemic diseases such as the plague.^[4] The Muslim victims of an earthquake is also believed to be martyrs as narrated in a hadith, and several hadiths also specify that earthquakes are a bane against the disbeliever and a mercy and blessing upon the Believer.^[5]

Regardless of how death occurred, Muslims believe that the reward of martyrdom is contingent upon proper belief, sincerity, perseverance and thankfulness to God. More importantly, Shahid or Shaheed means a struggle, whether internal for the betterment of one's self, or external, relating to the betterment of society.^[6]

Other uses[link]

The term has also been used in this different sense by Arab Christians and by some Hindus. Sikhs use the term to refer to people who have died in defense of, or borne witness to, a noble cause; examples include Shaheed Bhai Mati Das and Shaheed Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.^[7]

In Pakistan the title of Shahid is also used to designate some individuals who have given their lives in defense of Pakistan. Examples include the ten men awarded the Nishan-e-Haider.

Women[link]

A woman is considered "shaheeda" (شهيدة) if she died during fulfillment of a religious commandment. There are examples of women fighting in war such as Nusaybah bint Ka'ab. The first martyr of Islam was a woman, Sumayyah bint Khayyat.

See also[link]

• Istishhad, in Islam, the act of martyrdom or the seeking of martyrdom
• Jihad, an Islamic religious duty, meaning struggle
• Shahada, the Islamic creed
• Shahidka, a term for Islamist Chechen female suicide bombers

References & notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Shahid

• The concept of martyrdom and mourning in Islam

Anurag Kashyap
Born	(1972-09-10) 10 September 1972 (age 39) Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
Occupation	film director, producer, screenwriter and actor
Years active	1996–present
Spouse	Aarti Bajaj (divorced) Kalki Koechlin (2011–present)

Anurag Singh Kashyap (born 10 September 1972) is an Indian film director and screenwriter. As a filmmaker, he is known for Black Friday (2004), a controversial^[1][2][3] and award-winning Hindi film about the 1993 Bombay bombings, followed by No Smoking (2007), Dev D (2009) and Gulaal (2009). As a screenwriter, he wrote the scripts for the Filmfare Award-winning Satya (1998) and the Academy Award-nominated Canadian film Water (2005).

In 1999, Kashyap won the Best Screenplay award for Satya at the Star Screen Awards. The next year, his short film Last Train to Mahakali won the Special Jury Award at the same awards.^[4] His feature film debut Black Friday won the Grand Jury Prize at the 3rd Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (2005),^[5] and was a nominee for the "Golden Leopard" (Best Film) at the 57th Locarno International Film Festival (2004).^[6] In 2010, he announced his association with Tumbhi where he and his team will make six short films for Tumbhi and start his blog with them, as well.^[7][8][9] He was listed on the The DNA power list: Top 50 influentials, a list of 50 most influential Indians in 2011.^[10]

Early life[link]

Anurag Kashyap was born in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, where his father worked for the state electricity board. He grew up in several cities, including Varanasi, Saharanpur, and Obra. He did his early schooling in Dehradun and, age eight onwards, at the Scindia School in Gwalior.^[11][12][13]

He was fascinated with films right from childhood. Even at age five, would watch Hindi films like Kora Kagaz and Aandhi at a nearby club and open-air theater. This came to an end once he began his schooling.^[14]

Due to Kashyap's desire to become a scientist, he went to Delhi for his higher studies and enrolled himself into a zoology course at the Hansraj College (University of Delhi); he graduated in 1993.^[15][16][17] During his college days, he started watching films again and also got involved with drugs and alcohol. He was confused and depressed and had joined a street theater group, Jana Natya Manch; he ended up doing a lot of street plays.^[12][14][17] The same year, a couple of friends introduced him to world cinema; they "urged [him] to catch a de Sica retrospective" at the International Film Festival of India.^[11][12] In ten days, he saw 55 films at the festival,^[17][18] and de Sica's Bicycle Thieves was the film that influenced him the most; watching it "was an epiphany."^[15]

"from all different perspectives and in a way you can say that these films changed my life and it’s meaning completely for me. Just that one film festival and I decided that this is what I want to be a part of — in next five months I was in Mumbai".^[17]

Career[link]

The film festival and de Sica made a deep impact on Kashyap — he wanted to do something with films — so he landed in Mumbai in June 1993 with INR 5,000– 6,000 in his pocket.^[14][19] The money ran out after he stayed for a couple of days in a "good hotel." He spent the next eight months on the streets, staying in lofts, "sleeping on beaches," "under a water tank and in the St Xavier's [college] boys hostel."^[12] He managed to find work at Prithvi Theatre, but his first play remained incomplete because the director died. He then joined Makrand Deshpande's troupe — Samrangan — but left because he "could not face life. [He] wanted to act but [he] couldn't act with all that frustration."^[16]

Kashyap then wrote an "eight-page drama" — Main (I) — which did well at college drama festivals. People advised him to pursue a career in writing. Kashyap's play was appreciated by directors like Govind Nihalani and Saeed Mirza. Nihalani was working on a television series based on classic works, and he gave Kashyap a couple of books—a play by Henrik Ibsen, and Franz Kafka's The Trial—so that he could write scripts based on them. Kashyap read The Trial and told Nihalani that the book could only be made into an animation film, not a regular one. Nihalani asked him to reconsider. But the books had "confused [Kashyap] so much that [he] started thinking that [he] didn't know anything!" Kashyap started avoiding Nihalani; he went into "hibernation for a year and a half, and kept reading."^[14][16]

In 1995, an acquaintance introduced Kashyap to Shivam Nair, director of the 2006 film Ahista Ahista. The day they met, Kashyap watched Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver at Nair's place—on a "bad vcr" and using a "mutilated tape"; the film fascinated him. "I want to write something," Kashyap told Nair, and spent the next few days sitting in a corner as people like Sriram Raghavan, Sridhar Raghavan and Shiv Subramaniam discussed things. Sridhar introduced him to the world of books—authors like James M. Cain.^[14] The team was working on two projects, one of which was a docu-drama, Auto Narayan, based on the life of serial killer Auto Shankar; the second one was a film scripted by Kashyap.^[17][20] Auto Narayan got delayed because the script penned by Subramaniam was not "working." Kashyap rewrote the script, and got credit for the same, and the second film was scrapped. But Kashyap had now proved himself, and so got access to a VCR and television set. He starting bringing in video tapes and spent many days watching films.^[14] Kashyap got his first major break when actor Manoj Bajpai, who was working on Daud showed Auto Narayan to producer-director Ramgopal Varma. Varma liked Kashyap's work and hired him to write the script for Satya.^[14][16]

In September 1993, while Kashyap stayed at the St. Xavier's Boys Hostel, he used to hang out with the members of a band—Greek (later Pralay). He took copious notes on how they lead their lives—forty pages of a small notebook, and began writing the script—"in bits and pieces"—for a film that he called Mirage but which would later become Paanch. Kashyap had seen ex-VJ Luke Kenny in a Vikram Kapadia play, and approached him with an incomplete script, but nothing came out of it.^[14][17][18] Later on, while working with Nair, he came across files related to the Joshi-Abhyankar Serial Murders that took place in Pune in 1976.^[21]

"Five very ordinary college kids viciously murdered nine people. I got what I needed to finish my script then."^[18]

He had also seen a film, Fun, about two mentally unstable girls murdering an elderly woman. And Paanch was ready to be made into a film. Kashyap says—

"There was a structuring in Fun, which you will also see in Paanch. There was something in Fun. When I began looking for it, I saw a pattern in Last Train to Mahakali, in my own film Paanch and in Auto Narayan. All three films had a similar formula. I am able to analyze it because I have.^[14]

Satya was a commercial and critical success, and Kashyap collaborated with Varma on a few more films writing the screenplay and dialogues for Kaun? (1999) and the dialogues for Shool (1999). He also wrote the dialogues for Mani Ratnam's Yuva (2004). Kashyap made his directorial debut with Paanch, with Kay Kay Menon as the lead in 2000. However, the film ran into trouble with the Indian censor board and hasn't been released to date.^[22] In 2007, he adapted Stephen King's 1978 short story "Quitters, Inc." as No Smoking, which despite being received well by critics, didn't do well at the box-office.^[23] This was followed by Return of Hanuman (previously Hanuman Returns) a Hindi animation film about adventures of the Hindu god Hanuman.

Then, in 2009, came Dev.D. Written and directed by him, the film is a modern day take on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's classic Bengali novel Devdas, previously adapted for the screen by such revered filmmakers as P.C. Barua and Bimal Roy, and more recently by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Dev.D was embraced by the media, critics and public alike, and is considered to be amongst path-breaking films in Hindi for the way it presented itself.

In March 2009, while announcing steering away from screenwriting, after his current assignments to concentrate on direction, Kashyap also announced two new film projects. Bombay Velvet, a thriller based on real incidents in 1960s, based on a script by Princeton University Historian Gyan Prakash, will be produced by Danny Boyle starring Aamir Khan. Doga, the second film, will be based on the Raj Comics super hero.^[24][25]

In 2010 he played a child abuser in Onir's I Am, revealing that the role was meaningful to him because he had been sexually abused as a child.^[26]

He has also written the script of Kabhie Kabhie (1997 TV series) with Akash Khurana and Vinta Nanda which was telecast on Star Plus and this program was directed by Mahesh Bhatt having star casts like Shefali Shah as Radha Pathak, Lillete Dubey as Shama Joshi, Deepak Parashar as Nirmal Joshi, Rohit Roy as Vijay Sinha, Surekha Sikri as Lakshmi Pathak, Alok Nath and Kunika.

Personal[link]

Kashyap, with wife Kalki at the 2010 Filmfare Awards.

Anurag was earlier married to Aarti — his college sweetheart whom he dated for nine years before getting married. They have a daughter Aaliya.^[27] On 30 April 2011, Kashyap got married to Kalki Koechlin at Kalki's maternal home in Ooty.^[28] They first met during the making of Dev D.^[29] Anurag and Kalki collaborated on making of the movie, Shaitan.

His younger brother Abhinav Kashyap is also a screenwriter/director and made his directorial debut in 2010 with the blockbuster Dabangg starring Salman Khan. Abhinav also co-wrote the script with Anurag for the Sanjay Gupta-directed film Jung starring Sanjay Dutt and Jackie Shroff.

Filmography[link]

Actor[link]

• Soundtrack (film) (2011) as a Director (As Himself)
• Shagird (2011) as Bunty Bhaiya (Gangster)
• Tera Kya Hoga Johny (2011) as Kashyap (Special Appearance)
• I Am (2010)
• Luck by Chance (2009) as a Writer (As Himself)
• Black Friday (2004) as a ISI Man

Director[link]

• Gangs of Wasseypur (2012)
• That Girl in Yellow Boots (2011)
• Mumbai Cutting (2010)
• Gulaal (2009)
• Dev.D (2009)
• Return of Hanuman (2007)
• No Smoking (2007)
• Black Friday (2004)
• Paanch (2003) (unreleased)
• Last Train to Mahakali (1999)

Story Writer[link]

• Aiyaa (2012)
• Mumbai Cutting (2011)
• That Girl in Yellow Boots (2011)
• Muskurake Dekh Zara (2010)
• Udaan (2010)
• Gulaal (2009)
• Dev D (2009)
• Fool N Final (2007)
• Water (2005)
• Paisa Vasool (2004)
• Jung (2000)
• Kaun (1999)
• Shool (1999)
• Last Train to Mahakali (1999)
• Satya (1998)
• Kabhie Kabhie (1997 TV series) (1997)

Producer[link]

• Aiyaa (2012) ^[30]
• Michael (2012 film) (2012)
• Tasher Desh (film) (2012)
• Shaitan (2011)
• Gangs of Wasseypur (2012)
• That Girl in Yellow Boots (2011)
• Udaan (2010)
• Aamir (2008)

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Rediff.com: The Anurag Kashyap Interview
• Rediff.com: Yellow Boots is my last film with Kalki

External links[link]

• Anurag Kashyap at the Internet Movie Database
• An Interview with Anurag Kashyap at Indian Auteur
• Anurag Kashyap - Filmography at Bollywood Hungama.

Shahid Khan Afridi
شاہد خان آفریدی

Personal information
Full name	Sahibzada Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi
Born	(1980-03-01) 1 March 1980 (age 32) Khyber Agency, FATA, Pakistan
Nickname	Boom Boom Afridi[1]
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right arm leg spin
Role	All-rounder
International information
National side	Pakistan
Test debut (cap 153)	22 October 1998 v Australia
Last Test	13 July 2010 v Australia
ODI debut (cap 109)	2 October 1996 v Kenya
Last ODI	18 March 2012 v India
ODI shirt no.	10
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1995–2010	Karachi
1997–2009	Habib Bank Limited
2001	Leicestershire
2003	Derbyshire
2003–04	Griqualand West
2004	Kent
2007–2008	Sind
2010	Southern Redbacks
2008	Deccan Chargers
2011-	Hampshire
2011-	Melbourne Renegades
Career statistics
Competition	Test	ODI	T20I	FC
Matches	27	341	48	111
Runs scored	1,716	7,008	713	5,631
Batting average	36.51	23.59	17.39	31.45
100s/50s	5/8	6/33	0/3	12/30
Top score	156	124	54*	164
Balls bowled	3,194	14,892	1,085	13,493
Wickets	48	343	56	258
Bowling average	35.60	33.39	19.91	27.22
5 wickets in innings	1	8	0	8
10 wickets in match	0	0	0	0
Best bowling	5/52	6/38	4/11	6/101
Catches/stumpings	10/–	111/–	13/–	75/–
Source: CricketArchive, 21 December 2011

This article contains Urdu text, written from right to left with some letters joined. Without proper rendering support, you may see unjoined letters or other symbols instead of Urdu script.

Pride of Performance Award Recipient
Shahid Afridi was recipient of the Pride of Performance Award 2010[2]
Presented by	Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Date	2010
Country	Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Sahibzada Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi (Urdu: صاحبزادہ محمد شاہد خان آفریدی) (born 1 March 1980 in Khyber Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Pakistan^[3]), popularly known as Shahid Afridi (Pashto: شاهد ‏افریدی), is a Pakistani cricketer. Between 1996 and 2012, Afridi played 27 Tests, 334 One Day Internationals, and 46 Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) for the Pakistani national team. He made his ODI debut on 2 October 1996 against Kenya and his Test debut on 22 October 1998 against Australia.

He is known for his aggressive batting style,^[4] 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.^[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 300 in ODIs. Currently Afridi is the leading wicket taker in the Twenty20 format taking 53 wickets from 43 matches.

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); in October he reversed his decision.

International career[link]

In October 1996 at the age of sixteen Afridi was drafted into the ODI team during the four-nation Sameer Cup 1996–97 as a leg spinner as a replacement for the injured Mushtaq Ahmed.^[7] He made his debut on 2 October against Kenya, however he didn't bat and went wicketless.^[8] In the next match against Sri Lanka, Afridi batted at number three in the role of a pinch-hitter. In his first international innings, Afridi broke the record for fastest century in ODI cricket, reaching his hundred from 37 balls. The eleven sixes he struck also equalled the record for most in an ODI innings.^{[9][nb 1]} Aged 16 years and 217 days, Afridi became the youngest player to score an ODI century.^[11] Pakistan posted a total of 371, at the time the second-highest in ODIs, and won by 82 runs; Afridi was named man of the match.^[9]

Two years after appearing on the international scene, Afridi made his Test debut in the third game of a three-match series against Australia on 22 October 1998.^[12] By this point he had already played 66 ODIs, at the time a record before playing Tests.^[13] He opened the batting, making scores of 10 and 6, and took five wickets in the first innings.^[12] He played his second Test the following January during Pakistan's tour of India; it was the first Test between the two countries since 1990.^[14] Again opening the batting, Afridi scored his maiden Test century, scoring 141 runs from 191 balls. In the same match he also claimed three wickets for 54 runs.^[15] After winning the first match by 12 runs, Pakistan lost the second to draw the series.^[16]

In 2001, Afridi signed a contract to represent Leicestershire. In five first-class matches he scored 295 runs at an average of 42.14, including a highest score of 164,^[17] and took 11 wickets at an average of 46.45;^[18] Afridi also played 11 one day matches for the club, scoring 481 runs at an average of 40.08^[19] and taking 18 wickets at 24.04.^[20] His highest score of 95 came from 58 balls in a semi-final of the C&G Trophy to help Leicestershire beat Lancashire by seven wickets.^[21] Derbyshire County Cricket Club signed Afridi to play for them in the first two months of the 2003 English cricket season.^[22] In June 2004 Afridi signed with English county side Kent to play for them in three Twenty20 matches and one Totesport League match.^[23]

An innings-by-innings breakdown of Afridi's Test match batting career up to 30 December 2007, showing runs scored (red bars) and the average of the last ten innings (blue line).

Afridi made his presence felt in the third Test against India in March 2005, scoring a quick-fire second-innings half-century and taking five wickets in the match (including Tendulkar twice) to help Pakistan to win the game and register a series draw.^[24] In April Afridi struck what at the time was the equal second-fastest century in ODIs; he reached 100 off 45 deliveries against India, sharing the record with West Indian Brian Lara.^[25] Afridi was more consistent with his batting and bowling throughout 2005, starting with the tours of India and West Indies and through to the England tour. The Pakistani coach Bob Woolmer helped Afridi to reach a fuller potential by improving his shot selection and giving him free rein over his batting attitude.

On 21 November 2005, Shahid Afridi was banned for a Test match and two ODIs for deliberately damaging the pitch in the second match of the three-Test series against England. Television cameras pictured him scraping his boots on the pitch scuffing the surface when play was held up after a gas canister exploded. Afridi later pleaded guilty to a level three breach of the ICC code of conduct relating to the spirit of the game. Match referee Roshan Mahanama said: "This ban should serve as a message to players that this type of behaviour is not allowed."^[26][27][28]

On 12 April 2006, Afridi announced a temporary retirement from Test cricket so that he could concentrate on ODIs, with a particular focus on the 2007 World Cup, and to spend more time with his family. He said he would consider reversing his decision after the World Cup. Afridi had played ten Tests since being recalled to the side in January 2005, averaging 47.44 with the bat including four centuries.^[29] However, on 27 April he reversed his decision, saying that "[Woolmer] told me that I am one of the main players in the team and squad and that Pakistan really needed me".^[30] Before Pakistan toured England in July to September, Afridi played for Ireland as an overseas player in the C&G Trophy.^[30] In six matches, he scored 128 runs^[31] and took seven wickets.^[32] England won the four-match Test series 3–0;^[33] Afridi played two matches, scoring 49 runs^[34] and took three wickets.^[35] It was the last Test cricket Afridi played until 2010.^[36]

Afridi was charged on 8 February 2007 of bringing the game into disrepute after he was seen on camera thrusting his bat at a spectator who swore at him on his way up the steps after being dismissed. Afridi was given a four-game ODI suspension, the minimum possible ban for such an offence, meaning that he would miss Pakistan's first two 2007 World Cup matches. The PCB and Afridi chose not to appeal the ban, despite feeling that the punishment was excessively harsh.^[37]

In the 2007 World Twenty20, he performed poorly with the bat but brilliantly with the ball, earning the Man of the Series award, though he failed to take a wicket in the final and was out for a golden duck.But in the next ICC Twenty20 World Cup, held in 2009 Afridi performed brilliantly in the series scoring 50 runs in the semi-final and 54 in the final and leading his team to victory.

Captaincy (2009–2011)[link]

Afridi with his team mates during the 2009 World Twenty20 in June 2009

Shortly after Pakistan won the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 the captain Younis Khan announced his retirement from Twenty20 cricket the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) subsequently announced that Shahid Afridi had taken over as captain in T20Is; the appointment was initially for one match, with a decision on the permanent replacement to be made later.^[38] On 31 January 2010, Afridi was caught on camera biting into the ball towards the end of the 5th Commonwealth Bank ODI series in Australia.^[39] Later Afridi pleaded guilty to ball tampering and he was banned from two Twenty20 internationals.^[40]

In March 2010 the board announced that Shahid Afridi had been appointed ODI captain in place of the sacked Mohammad Yousuf he led Pakistan in the 2010 Asia Cup and during his first three matches as ODI captain he scored two centuries against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh he finished as the tournaments highest runscorer with 384 runs from 3 matches.

On 25 May 2010, Afridi was appointed captain of the national team in all three formats, after he announced his return to Test cricket.^[41] In July 2010, Afridi captained Pakistan in the first Test of the series at Lord's against England. He scored 31 off 15 deliveries in the first innings and 2 in the second but was dismissed succumbing to rash strokes in both the innings. After the match, he announced retirement from Test cricket again citing lack of temperament for Test cricket as the reason.^[42] Afridi was officially removed from the Test squad on the England tour, but after the spot-fixing scandal saw Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir and Test captain Salman Butt temporarily suspended by the International Cricket Council, he stated that he might return to Test cricket if "the team needs it".^[43] According a representative of Afridi, he had voiced his concerns about Mazhar Majeed – who had approached Pakistan's players – in June.^[44] Majeed also confirmed that he approached Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Younis Khan and Saeed Ajmal but all off them refused to be affiliated with him of his fixing menace. Worth mentioning is that the four names given above were not associated in the original scandal and that no disciplinary action have been taken against them by the sports governing body the International Cricket Council.^[45]

In October, Afridi stated in an interview with Express News that the squad had been selected without his consultation; the PCB gave him an official warning for the interview.^[46] Coach Waqar Younis also expressed his unhappiness at having no input in selection, however Mohsin Khan, the chief selector, defended the decision, stating "it is not written down in the PCB constitution that the coach and captain(s) must have a say in the selection of any squad".^[47] Pakistan lost the series 3–2.

Afridi during Pakistan's tour of New Zealand in December 2010

The team toured New Zealand between December 2010 and February 2011 for two Tests, six ODIs, and three T20Is. Pakistan lost the first two T20Is but won the third; in final match Afridi became the first cricketer to reach 50 international wickets in the format.^[48] When Pakistan's squad for the 2011 World Cup was announced no captain was named; Afridi, the incumbent ODI captain and Misbah-ul-Haq, the Test captain, were the front runners for the position.^[49] Pakistan lost the first match against New Zealand by 8-wickets, the second match got rained out and in the third Mohammad Hafeez scored a century and Afridi scored a blistering 65 from just 25 balls. The following match was a tight game but Pakistan prevailed by two-wickets thanks to three boundaries from Sohail Tanvir, the match was set up by a 93 not out from Misbah-ul-Haq. The fifth ODI was won for Pakistan by 43 runs courtesy of a maiden ODI-century from Ahmed Shehzad. Afridi helped in the lower order by scoring 24 and taking two crucial top order wickets to help guide Pakistan to a 43-run victory and their first ODI series win in two years.^[50]

After gaining victory as a captain against New Zealand, the PCB declared Shahid Afridi as Pakistan's captain for the 2011 World Cup. In Pakistan's opening match of the tournament, Afridi took 5 wickets for 16 runs against Kenya, giving him the best bowling figures by a Pakistan bowler in a World Cup.^[51] In the following match against Sri Lanka, which Pakistan won, Afridi claimed for more wickets to help his side to victory and became the second player to have scored 4,000 runs and taken 300 wickets in ODIs.^{[52][nb 2]} He claimed 17 wickets from 6 matches in the first round of the Cup, including a five-wicket haul against Canada,^[53] as Pakistan finished top of their group and progressed to the next stage.^[54] After beating the West Indies in the quarter-final, with Afridi taking four wickets,^[55] Pakistan were knocked out of the semi-finals in a 29-run defeat to India.^[56] Afridi was the tournament's joint-leading wicket-taker with 21 wickets, level with India's Zaheer Khan, even though Afridi had played one match less than him.^[57]

Soon after the World Cup Pakistan toured the West Indies for a T20I, five ODIs, and two Tests. Pakistan lost the only T20I^[58] but won the ODI series that followed 3–2.^[59] Afridi took two wickets and scored 28 runs in the series.^[60][61] The coach, Waqar Younis, fell out with Afridi and in his report on the tour criticised Afridi, saying "as a captain he is very immature, has poor discipline, lacks a gameplan and is unwilling to listen to others' opinions or advice".^[62] After the series, on 19 May the PCB replaced Afridi as ODI captain with Misbah-ul-Haq for the two-match ODI series against Ireland later that month. In 34 ODIs as captain, Afridi led his side to 18 wins and 15 defeats.^[63] Afridi subsequently withdrew from the touring squad, citing the illness of his father.^[64]

Conditional retirement and return (2011)[link]

On 30 May Afridi announced his conditional retirement from international cricket in protest against his treatment by the PCB. The condition on his return was that the board be replaced.^[65] The PCB suspended Afridi's central contract, fined him 4.5 million rupees ($52,300), and revoked his no-objection certificate (NOC) which allowed Afridi to play for Hampshire. Afridi filed a petition with the Sindh High Court to overturn the sanctions. On 15 June, Afridi withdrew his petition after an out of court settlement and the PCB reinstated his NOC.^[66] When the PCB's central contracts were renewed in August, Afridi's was allowed to lapse.^[67] In October he withdrew his retirement as Ijaz Butt had been replaced as chairman of the PCB. ^[68] Two weeks after his announcement, Afridi was included in Pakistan's squad to face Sri Lanka in three ODIs and a T20I.^[69] In November 2011, Afridi became the only cricketer to score a half-century and take five wickets on two separate occasions in ODIs.^[70] Afridi achieved this feat in the fourth ODI against Sri Lanka which helped Pakistan to secure the one-day series.^[71]

Playing style[link]

Afridi bowling his stock leg-spin delivery

Batting[link]

His general style of batting is very aggressive and attack oriented and has earned him the nickname "Boom Boom Afridi". Moreover, out of the seven fastest ODI centuries of all time, Afridi has produced three of them.^[72] As of 19 April 2011, he has an ODI strike rate of 113.88 runs per 100 balls, the fourth highest in the game's history.^[73] This attitude has been transferred to Test cricket as well, with Afridi scoring at a relatively high strike rate of 86.97. He has an approach to batting that can change the tempo of a game and inspire the mood of an audience, as shown when a mass exodus of spectators occurred in Pakistan in late 2005 following his dismissal from the crease.

He hits many sixes long and high, favouring straight down the ground or over midwicket and hit the longest ever six in the history of ODIs against Australia. His trademark shot is a cross-batted flick to the leg-side to a ball outside off stump.^[74] 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 6,000 ODI runs at an average under 25.^[75] 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.^[76]

Bowling[link]

Having started as a fast bowler, Afridi decided to start bowling spin after he was told he was throwing. He modelled himself on Pakistan leg-spinner Abdul Qadir.^[3] Afridi began his career as primarily a bowler, however after scoring the fastest century in his maiden ODI innings more was expected of him with the bat. He considers himself a better bowler than batsman.^[76] While he is renowned for his aggressive batting, he is also a handy leg-spinner capable of producing a good mix of wicket taking balls.^[77] He has over 300 International wickets, most of which are from the ODI format. While his stock ball is the leg break, his armoury also includes the conventional off break and a "quicker one" which he can deliver in the style of a medium-pacer, reaching speeds of around 130 km/h (81 mph).^[78] He bowls at a high speed for a spinner, resulting in lesser turn, and relying more on variations in speed. He occasionally sends down a bouncer to a batsman, which is very rare for a spin bowler.

Records and achievements[link]

Test centuries[link]

• In the column Runs, * indicates being not out
• The column title Match refers to the Match Number of the player's career

Test centuries

	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year
[1]	141	2	India	Chennai, India	MA Chidambaram Stadium	1999
[2]	107	12	West Indies	Sharjah, United Arab Emirates	Sharjah C.A. Stadium	2002
[3]	122	18	West Indies	Bridgetown, Barbados	Kensington Oval	2005
[4]	103	21	India	Lahore, Pakistan	Gaddafi Stadium	2006
[5]	156	22	India	Faisalabad, Pakistan	Iqbal Stadium	2006

ODI centuries[link]

• In the column Runs, * indicates being not out
• The column title Match refers to the Match Number of the player's career

ODI centuries

	Runs	Balls	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year
[1]	102	37	2	Sri Lanka	Nairobi, Kenya	Nairobi Gymkhana Club	1996
[2]	109	94	65	India	Toronto, Canada	Toronto CSCC	1998
[3]	108*	97	146	New Zealand	Sharjah, United Arab Emirates	Sharjah C.A. Stadium	2002
[4]	102	45	204	India	Kanpur, India	Green Park	2005
[5]	109	76	294	Sri Lanka	Dambulla, Sri Lanka	Dambulla International Stadium	2010
[6]	124	60	296	Bangladesh	Dambulla, Sri Lanka	Dambulla International Stadium	2010

ODI five-wicket hauls[link]

No.	Date	Ground	Against	Inn	Overs	Runs	Wkts	Econ	Batsmen	Result
1	02000-10-2727 October 2000	Gaddafi Stadium	England	1	10	40	5	4.00	ME Trescothick N Hussain GP Thorpe C White AF Giles	Won[79]
2	02004-09-1414 September 2004	Edgbaston Cricket Ground	Kenya	1	6	1	5	1.83	MA Ouma TM Odoyo BJ Patel ML Patel PJ Ongondo	Won[80]
3	02009-04-2222 April 2009	DSC Cricket Stadium	Australia	1	10	38	6	3.80	BJ Haddin SR Watson A Symonds CJ Ferguson NW Bracken SR Clark	Won[81]
4	02011-02-2323 February 2011	Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium	Kenya	1	8	16	5	2.00	Steve Tikolo Tanmay Mishra Jimmy Kamande Thomas Odoyo Collins Obuya	Won[82]
5	02011-03-033 March 2011	R Premadasa Stadium	Canada	1	10	23	5	2.30	Ashish Bagai Jimmy Hansra Rizwan Cheema Tyson Gordon Harvir Baidwan	Won[83]
6	02011-11-2020 November 2011	Sharjah Cricket Stadium	Sri Lanka	1	9.2	35	5	3.75	Kumar Sangakkara Mahela Jayawardene Jeevan Mendis Thisara Perera Seekkuge Prasanna	Won[84]
7	02011-12-011 December 2011	Shere Bangla National Stadium	Bangladesh	1	6.3	23	5	3.53	Shahriar Nafees Mahmudullah Shakib Al Hasan Farhad Reza Shafiul Islam	Won[85]
8	02012-02-1212 February 2012	Sharjah Cricket Stadium	Afghanistan	1	10	36	5	3.60	Karim Sadiq Mohammad Shahzad Nawroz Mangal Gulbodin Naib Mirwais Ashraf	Won [86]

Personal life[link]

Afridi is from the Afridi tribe of the Khyber Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and hails from a Pashtun family.^[3] He is married and has two daughters, Aqsa and Ansha.^[87]

See also[link]

• List of Pakistan Test cricketers who have taken five wickets on debut

References[link]