Shaheen Afridi Joins Pakistan’s Elite T20I Bowling Club, Surpassing Shahid Afridi

Shaheen Shah Afridi was the pick of all the Pakistan bowlers in the first T20I against South Africa at Kingsmead in Durban. The left-arm speedster claimed a three-wicket haul and conceded just 22 runs in the process. Shaheen Shah Afridi surpassed his father-in-law to join an exclusive list of Pakistan bowlers on Tuesday (December 10) as he claimed a three-wicket haul against South Africa in the first T20I of the three-match series at Kingsmead in Durban. Shaheen has completed 100 T20I wickets for Pakistan and is only the third player to do so. Before the start of the game, Shaheen was tied with Shahid Afridi with 97 wickets to his credit. Only Haris Rauf (110) and Shadab Khan (107) have bagged more wickets than Shaheen in T20I cricket. However, Shaheen's milestone came in a losing cause as Pakistan lost the match by 11 runs. Shaheen claimed the big wickets of Rassie van der Dussen and David Miller before dismissing Nqabayomzi Peter. The left-arm speedster bowled 10 dot balls during his spell and conceded runs at an economy rate of 5.50. Mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed also picked up a three-for but was fairly expensive as he leaked 37 runs in four overs at 9.25 runs per over. Right-arm pacer Abbas Afridi was the other Pakistan bowler who impressed as he finished with figures of 2/30 in his four overs. Most wickets for Pakistan in T20Is Player Matches Wickets Haris Rauf 78 110 Shadab Khan 104 107 Shaheen Shah Afridi 74 100 Shahid Afridi 98 97 Umar Gul 60 85 Saeed Ajmal 64 85 Imad Wasim 75 73 Mohammad Amir 62 71 Mohammad Hafeez 119 61 Hasan Ali 51 60 Chasing 184 to win the game, Pakistan fell agonizingly short despite their captain Mohammad Rizwan scoring 74 runs. Rizwan came to open the innings alongside former skipper Babar Azam. Pakistan suffered an early setback when they lost Babar for a four-ball duck on the third ball of the third over. Saim Ayub (31 off 15 balls) and Rizwan (74 off 62 balls) fought hard but could not get enough support from the rest of the batting order to get the job done.