World Cup 2023: Shaheen Afridi close to breaking another record

Pakistan’s lead pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi is closing in on another record for Pakistan during the ongoing World Cup 2023.

The left-arm pacer, who has picked 95 wickets in 48 matches, might soon become the fastest to bag 100 wickets in one-day internationals (ODIs) for Pakistan.

Shaheen only needs to pick five more wickets to beat Saqlain Mushtaq’s record who reached the milestone in 53 matches.

During Friday’s match against Australia, Shaheen overtook former Green Shirts’ bowler Mohammad Amir to become the left-arm pacer with the second most international wickets for Pakistan.

The 23-year-old achieved the feat during the 18th match of the World Cup against Australia in Bengaluru on Friday.

The left-arm pacer had picked 259 wickets before Friday’s encounter against the Kangaroos — the same as Amir — and with his first two victims, which were Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell, Shaheen officially overtook the 31-year-old and is now only behind the legendary Wasim Akram as the left-arm with most wickets for the Men in Green.

Shaheen took a fifer against Australia, taking his international wicket tally to 264 in a total of 127 matches (145 innings) while Amir bagged 259 wickets in 147 matches (177 innings).

Meanwhile, Wasim Akram took 916 wickets with his magical left hand in 460 matches (532 innings).

Shaheen bagged his second World Cup five-wicket haul, having recorded figures of 6/35 against Bangladesh during the 2019 tournament, which made him just the second Pakistan player —after his father-in-law — Shahid Afridi to have two World Cup five-wicket hauls to his name.

His figures of 5/54 on Friday are also the best for any bowler thus far in the 2023 World Cup.