Shaheen Shah Afridi on Saturday, November 4, registered the unwanted record of Pakistan’s most expensive spell in the history of the World Cup. The left-arm fast bowler reached a new career low in the match against Kane Williamson’s New Zealand at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
The 23-year-old Shaheen finished with figures of 10-0-90-0 as the Black Caps posted a mammoth score of 401 for the loss of six wickets. The fast bowler left Haris Rauf behind, who had a dubious record earlier in the same match.
With figures of 10-0-85-1, Rauf went ahead of Hasan Ali, who finished with figures of 10-0-84-1 against Virat Kohli’s India in the 2019 World Cup at Old Trafford, Manchester .
Shaheen made an embarrassing record after Mitchell Santner hit a six on him in the last over of New Zealand’s innings. Shaheen was hit with 11 fours and two sixes, as the fast bowler probably had the worst day of his cricket career.
Born in Khyber Agency, Shaheen has many reasons to be happy in recent times. In the match against Shakib Al Hasan’s Bangladesh at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, he became the fastest bowler to take 100 wickets in ODIs by breaking Mitchell Starc’s record.
He reached the milestone after trapping Tanjeed Hasan Tamim in his very first over of the match. In that game, he also dismissed Mahmudullah Riyad in a manner that was compared to Wasim Akram’s dismissal of Allan Lamb in the 1992 World Cup. The very next day, he jumped seven places to reach number 1 in the rankings for ODI bowlers.
In eight matches at the World Cup 2023, Shaheen has taken 16 wickets at an economy rate of 5.76 with a five-wicket haul against Australia to show for his efforts.