Afridi announces retirement from international cricket
Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi announced his retirement from T20 internationals on Monday, thereby ending his 21-year long international career. Afridi burst onto the scene in 1996, scoring a 37-ball century in only his second match to set a world record that stood for 17 years. In the second half of his career, he became known as a bowling all-rounder.
Pakistani cricketer Shahid Afridi on Sunday announced his retirement from international cricket, bringing to an end his sometimes controversial 21-year career.The 36-year-old all-rounder was currently active in the International Twenty20 format after having quit Test cricket in 2010 and One-Day Internationals in 2015. While saying goodbye from international cricket, Afridi, who is nicknamed 'Boom Boom', added that he will continue playing domestic cricket for at least another two years. Afridi had been a fan favourite since he burst onto the scene in 1996, striking a 37-ball century against Sri Lanka in only his second match to set a world record that was unbeaten for 17 years.He became known as a bowling all-rounder in the second half of his career and was instrumental in Pakistan's early successes in Twenty20, including their 2009 victory.He captained the Pakistan Twenty20 team during the 2016 world championships in India, but stepped down as skipper after the tournament. (Also read: Shahid Afridi plans to turn freelance cricketer ) Afridi finishes his international career having played 27 Test matches, in which he hit 1,176 runs with a highest score of 156 and 48 wickets. In the 398 ODIs that he played throughout his career, he notched up 8,064 runs, with a highest score of 124, and took 395 wickets with his leg spin.