International Cricket Carrier
Shortly
after Pakistan won the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 the captain Younis
Khan announced his retirement from Twenty20 cricket the Pakistan Cricket Board
(PCB) subsequently announced that Shahid Afridi had taken over as captain in T20Is; the appointment
was initially for one match, with a decision on the permanent replacement to be
made later.[47] On 31 January 2010, Afridi was caught
on camera biting into the ball towards the end of the 5th Commonwealth Bank ODI
series in Australia.[48] Later Afridi pleaded guilty
to ball tampering and he was banned from two Twenty20 internationals In March 2010 the board announced that Shahid Afridi had been appointed
ODI captain in place of the sacked Mohammad Yousuf he
led Pakistan in the 2010 Asia Cup and during his first three matches as ODI
captain he scored two centuries against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh he finished as
the tournaments highest runscorer with 384 runs from
3 matches.
On
25 May 2010, Afridi was appointed captain of the
national team in all three formats, after he announced his return to Test
cricket. In July 2010, Afridi captained Pakistan in
the first Test of the series at Lord's against Australia. He scored 31 off 15
deliveries in the first innings and 2 in the second but was dismissed
succumbing to rash strokes in both the innings. After the match, he announced
retirement from Test cricket again citing lack of temperament for Test cricket
as the reason.[51] Afridi was officially removed from
the Test squad on the England tour, but after the spot-fixing scandal saw
Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir and Test captain Salman Butt temporarily suspended
by the International Cricket Council, he stated that he might return to Test
cricket if "the team needs it".[52] According a representative of Afridi, he had voiced his concerns about Mazhar Majeed – who had approached
Pakistan's players – in JuneMajeed also confirmed
that he approached Afridi, Abdul Razzaq,
Younis Khan and Saeed Ajmal
but all off them refused to be affiliated with him of his fixing menace. Worth
mentioning is that the four names given above were not associated in the
original scandal and that no disciplinary action have been taken against them
by the sports governing body the International
Cricket Council.[54]
Afridi's results in
international matches
Matches Won Lost Drawn Tied No result
Test[ 27 9 9 9 0 –
ODI[ 398 218 170 – 1 9
T20I 80 48 31 – 1 –
In
October, Afridi stated in an interview with Express
News that the squad had been selected without his consultation; the PCB gave
him an official warning for the interview.[59] Coach Waqar
Younis also expressed his unhappiness at having no
input in selection, however Mohsin Khan, the chief
selector, defended the decision, stating "it is not written down in the
PCB constitution that the coach and captain(s) must have a say in the selection
of any squad".[60] Pakistan lost the series 3–2.
Afridi in the field during a
50-over warm-up match against Somerset at the County Ground, Taunton, during
Pakistan's 2010 tour of England.
The
team toured New Zealand between December 2010 and February 2011 for two Tests,
six ODIs, and three T20Is. Pakistan lost the first two T20Is but won the third;
in final match Afridi became the first cricketer to
reach 50 international wickets in the format.[61] In the same match, he also
became the first cricketer to have completed the double of 500 runs and 50
wickets in the T20 Internationals.[62] When Pakistan's squad for the 2011 World
Cup was announced no captain was named; Afridi, the
incumbent ODI captain and Misbah-ul-Haq, the Test
captain, were the front runners for the position.[63] Pakistan lost the first
match against New Zealand by 8-wickets, the second match got rained out and in
the third Mohammad Hafeez scored a century and Afridi scored a blistering 65 from just 25 balls. The
following match was a tight game but Pakistan prevailed by two-wickets thanks
to three boundaries from Sohail Tanvir,
the match was set up by a 93 not out from Misbah-ul-Haq.
The fifth ODI was won for Pakistan by 43 runs courtesy of a maiden ODI-century
from Ahmed Shehzad. Afridi
helped in the lower order by scoring 24 and taking two crucial top order
wickets to help guide Pakistan to a 43-run victory and their first ODI series
win in two years.[64]
After
gaining victory as a captain against New Zealand, the PCB declared Shahid Afridi as Pakistan's
captain for the 2011 World Cup. In Pakistan's opening match of the tournament, Afridi took 5 wickets for 16 runs against Kenya, giving him
the best bowling figures by a Pakistan bowler in a World Cup.[65] In the
following match against Sri Lanka, which Pakistan won, Afridi
claimed for more wickets to help his side to victory and became the second
player to have scored 4,000 runs and taken 300 wickets in ODIs.[66][nb 2] He claimed 17 wickets from 6 matches in the first
round of the Cup, including a five-wicket haul against Canada,[67] as Pakistan
finished top of their group and progressed to the next stage.[68] After beating
the West Indies in the quarter-final, with Afridi taking
four wickets,[69] Pakistan were knocked out of the semi-finals in a 29-run
defeat to India.[70] Afridi was the tournament's
joint-leading wicket-taker with 21 wickets, level with India's Zaheer Khan, even though Afridi
had played one match less than him.[71]
Soon
after the World Cup Pakistan toured the West Indies for a T20I, five ODIs, and
two Tests. Pakistan lost the only T20I[72] but won the ODI series that followed
3–2Afridi took two wickets and scored 28 runs in the seriesThe
coach, Waqar Younis, fell
out with Afridi and in his report on the tour
criticised Afridi, saying "as a captain he is
very immature, has poor discipline, lacks a gameplan
and is unwilling to listen to others' opinions or advice".[76] After the
series, on 19 May the PCB replaced Afridi as ODI
captain with Misbah-ul-Haq for the two-match ODI
series against Ireland later that month. In 34 ODIs as captain, Afridi led his side to 18 wins and 15 defeats.[77] Afridi subsequently withdrew
from the touring squad, citing the illness of his father