Shaheen Afridi: Decoding his stats with the new ball
Shaheen Afridi has emerged as one of the threatening fast bowlers going around. The left-arm speedster has given nightmares to several potent batters with his pace and swing. He has particularly been brilliant with the new ball. In the recently-concluded ODI series opener against Afghanistan, he dismissed Rahmat Shah and Ibrahim Zadran in successive deliveries in the third over. Here are his powerplay stats.
29 ODI wickets in powerplay
Afridi's inswinging deliveries have particularly troubled right-handed batters in initial overs. 29 of his 72 ODI wickets have been come in the powerplay overs. The young pacer has an average of 23.93 and an economy rate of 4.85 in this regard. No other Pakistan bowler has taken more powerplay wickets in ODIs since Shaheen's debut in the format in September 2018.
Sensational with the new ball in T20Is as well
Afridi's brilliance with the new ball has tormented batters in the 20-over format as well. He has returned with 26 wickets in 48 powerplay innings in T20Is as his economy rate in this regard reads just 6.66. Overall in T20 cricket, the 23-year-old owns 83 powerplay wickets at an economy of 7.23. 40 of these wickets have come in the opening over.
His exploits in whites
The majority of Afridi's success in the longest format has come with the new ball as the red cherry tends to swing more than the white one. 29 of his 105 Test wickets have come in the first 10 overs. The young speed merchant averages an astonishing 20 in this phase. 976 of Afridi's 1,212 deliveries in this phase have been dots.
Here are his overall numbers
Afridi completed 100 Test wickets during the Sri Lanka tour last month. He has now raced to 105 scalps in the format in 27 games at 25.58. The tally includes four five-wicket hauls and a solitary match 10-fer. In ODIs, he has 72 wickets in 27 games (ER: 5.48). 64 of his wickets have come in 52 T20Is at an economy of 7.63.
