Shahid Afridi rolled back the clock to entertain his fans with a blistering 101 off just 43 deliveries in the NatWest T20 Blast game against Derbyshire on Tuesday.
Afridi, who is playing for Hampshire helped his team reach 249 in 20 overs. The side registered a 101 runs victory to qualify for the semi-finals. Afridi, who is also known as ‘Boom-Boom’ smashed bowlers all over the park. His innings comprised of seven sixes and ten boundaries. The all-rounder who called it quit from international cricket in February 2017, impressed current and former players. One of his former team mate Shoaib Akhtar lauded Afridi for his impressive innings.
Afridi burst on to the international circuit with his swashbuckling batting. His 37-balls century in only his second One-Day International was a world record which lasted for 17 years. Shoaib and Afridi played the majority of their cricket for Pakistan together.
Shoaib praised his former team mate in twitter. He said,
“Congrats @SAfridiOfficial on maiden #T20 century. Well played my brother. You deserve #ShabiKiJhappi 🙂 #NatwestT20Blast #BoomBoomAfridi”.
Congrats @SAfridiOfficial on maiden #T20 century. Well played my brother. You deserve #ShabiKiJhappi 🙂 #NatwestT20Blast #BoomBoomAfridi
— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) August 23, 2017
Afridi who played for Hampshire in 2003 was promoted to open the innings for the team in this match. He did not fail to deliver this time and did what was asked of him by the team management. His innings completed decimated the opposition and made the match completely one sided. It was also Afridi’s first century in T20 cricket in 256 T20 matches.
Afridi hung his shoes from Test cricket in 2010 and One-Day Internationals after the 2015 World Cup. He continued to play in international T20 matches for two more years only to retire in 2017.