Men’s Cricketer of The Year 2021: Shaheen Shah Afridi Dominated All Formats in The Year.
Pakistani pace bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi took 47 wickets in test matches at an average of 17.06 in nine test matches in 2021, he stands second-highest wicket taker in the year.
Afridi bowled exceptionally very well in T20Is and ODIs also.
Shaheen Shah took 8 wickets in 9 ODI matches at an average of 41.37, his economy rate was 6.3 with strike rate of 39.3. Shah picked 23 wickets in T20Is with an average of 26.04 in 21 twenty20 matches. His economy in T20s was 7.86 and strike rate was 19.8 in the format.
Afridi’s best performance came during the T20 World Cup 2021 where he took seven wickets in six matches at an average of 24.14, an economy of 7.04, and a strike rate of 20.5. In the first match against India, Afridi opened the bowling attack for Pakistan. He dismissed Rohit Sharma in the first over for a duck. In the third over, he castled KL Rahul with a beauty of a delivery. He completed his spell after picking the wicket of Indian captain Virat Kohli who made 57 runs off 49 deliveries.
India made 151 runs for the loss of seven wickets and Pakistan won the match by ten wickets after a heroic partnership between Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam. Afridi won the player of the match award.
Indian Captain Virat Kohli praised Shaheen Shah Afridi’s performance, He mentioned how Afridi’s bowling mounted pressure on Indian batting side. In a post-match presser Kohli said “Shah put our batsmen under pressure immediately with the new ball, and he ran in with intensity and showed that he’s bowling in consistent areas, so as batsmen you are forced to be a bit watchful.”
“That spell kind of put us on the back foot immediately, and from there on to get those extra 20, 25 runs, in the end, seemed pretty difficult when you lose three wickets for 20 runs,” Kohli added.
