Shahid Afridi

His other grandfather, Sahibzada Abdul Baqi, was given the title Ghazi-e-Kashmir (conqueror of Kashmir) for his efforts during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948.

Afridi has six brothers, including fellow cricketers Tariq Afridi and Ashfaq Afridi, and five sisters.

He is the fifth oldest of his siblings.

He credits his uncle, a colonel in the Pakistan Army, for introducing him to sports in general and to cricket in particular.

Sahibzada Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi (شاہد افریدی‎, شاهد افریدی; born 1 March 1977) is a Pakistani former cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team.

An all-rounder, Afridi was a right-handed leg spinner and a right-handed batsman.

Afridi was born in Khyber Agency, Pakistan, to an Afridi tribe of Pashtuns in 1977.

He belongs to a family of Sufi pirs (teachers or spiritual masters) and his grandfather Maulana Muhammad Ilyas was a well-known spiritual figure in Bhutan Sharif, a locality in the Tirah Valley.

Afridi has said that he was inspired by the stories about Imran Khan's captaincy throughout the 1992 Cricket World Cup and that the 1992 World Cup defined his cricket and taught him to never be afraid of failure.

He is married to his maternal cousin Nadia Afridi and has five daughters.

In 2021, Afridi announced his daughter Ansha's engagement to cricketer Shaheen Afridi.

On 3 February 2023, his daughter, Ansha, married Shaheen Afridi in a nikah ceremony.

Afridi was drafted to the Pakistan senior national team after fine performances at the under-19 championship circuit starting the 1994–95 season.

Playing for the Karachi Whites, he helped his team win the title the following season picking 42 wickets in five matches at an average of 9.59.

Later that season, Afridi had played against the visiting England A and West Indies Youth teams and a few first-class games for Karachi Whites in the senior National Championship.

Afridi made his ODI debut in 1996 against Kenya.

In his second ODI match against Sri Lanka, he played his first international innings and broke the record for fastest century in ODI cricket (doing so in 37 deliveries).

He made his Test debut against Australia in 1998.

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, and took 11 wickets at an average of 46.45; Afridi also played 11 one day matches for the club, scoring 481 runs at an average of 40.08 and taking 18 wickets at 24.04.

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.

Afridi made his T20I debut against England in 2006.

Afridi was named player of the tournament of the 2007 T20 World Cup.

Afridi was player of the match in the final of the 2009 T20 World Cup scoring an unbeaten 54 and getting figures of 1/20 off of 4 overs as Pakistan went on to win the final.

Shortly after Pakistan's win at the 2009 World Cup, Pakistan's captain, Younis Khan, announced his retirement from T20Is and Afridi was appointed as his successor.

In 2010, Afridi was appointed Pakistan's ODI captain after the sacking of Mohammad Yousuf.

Afridi was also appointed Pakistan's Test captain but retired from the format after one match as captain.

He led the Pakistan team in the 2011 Cricket World Cup where they reached the semi-finals before losing to rival India.

In 2011, Afridi was removed as ODI captain.

In 2015, Afridi retired from ODI cricket.

Afridi was also nominated among the top 20 most charitable athletes of 2015.

After Pakistan's group stage elimination from the 2016 T20 World Cup, Afridi stepped down from captaincy.

He was not selected afterwards and on 19 February 2017, Afridi announced his retirement from international cricket.

He made a brief return to international cricket after being selected to represent and captain the World XI against the West Indies in the 2018 Hurricane Relief T20 Challenge charity match.

Following the conclusion of the match, Afridi announced his retirement from international cricket again on 31 May 2018.

He served as the interim chief selector of the Pakistan cricket team for Pakistan's series against New Zealand.

Afridi runs his own charity, the Shahid Afridi Foundation which aims to provide education and healthcare facilities.

He also teamed up with UNICEF to promote the anti-polio campaign in the country.

During the 2019 Coronavirus pandemic, he was involved in helping people across Balochistan during the lockdown in the country.

This led to him contracting COVID-19 on 13 June 2020.