The Pakistan pacer picked up 3 wickets against South Africa in the first T20I of the series and completed 100 wickets in the shortest format
Pakistan pace spearhead Shaheen Afridi scripted history during the first T20I of the 3-match series against South Africa in Durban. Shaheen finished with commendable figures of 3/22 in 4 overs to help his side restrict the hosts to 183/9 in 20 overs.
With this impressive bowling spell, the pacer completed 100 wickets in the shortest format of the game. Shaheen had already clinched over 100 wickets in both the ODI and Test formats which meant that he became the first-ever player from Pakistan to take 100 wickets in all the 3 formats.
Shaheen became the third Pakistan bowler from his country to complete 100 T20I wickets behind Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan. The left-arm pacer has so far taken 112 wickets in ODIs and 116 scalps in Test cricket.
The 3-wicket haul against South Africa saw Shaheen complete 100 scalps in his 74th match in the shortest format. This made him the second-fastest Pakistan bowler to achieve the feat behind Rauf, who took 71 matches to complete 100 scalps in the format.
Overall, Shaheen became the youngest to achieve the feat and joined the ranks of New Zealand’s Tim Southee, Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, and Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga.
Coming to the match, Shaheen dismissed the likes of Rassie van der Dussen, Davis Miller and Nqabayomzi Peter to help Pakistan restrict the Proteas to a total of 183/9 in 20 overs.
In reply, Pakistan lost Babar Azam for a duck and the other batters also found it difficult to counter against the South African bowlers. Skipper Mohammad Rizwan played a fine knock of 74 runs, but found no support from the other end as Pakistan finished their 20 overs on 172/8, losing the match by 11 runs.
