Pakistan fast bowler Shaheen Afridi has returned to his best at the 2023 World Cup, rising to top of the table for wicket takers in the tournament.
While Pakistan have had an indifferent tournament so far, Afridi has been consistent throughout. Here we take a look at just how good Afridi has been so far.
Quickest pacers to 100 wickets in ODIs
Left-arm pacer Afridi joined the 100 wickets club with his three-wicket haul against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Tuesday. In doing so, he became the quickest fast bowler ever to the milestone, reaching there in just 51 matches.
The previous record belonged to Australia’s Mitchell Starc, who had done it in 52 matches in 2016. Starc however had taken fewer balls (2,452) compared to 2,526 balls by Afridi.
With 16 wickets, Afridi is also the joint-leading wicket-taker in this World Cup with Australia’s Adam Zampa. No wonder he rose to the No1 spot in ODI rankings this week.
Best bowling averages in the World Cup
Afridi loves bowling in the ODI World Cup. Playing in his only second tournament, he has already taken 32 wickets in 12 games at an impressive average of 17.28, which is the third best in the World Cup among 47 bowlers who have taken 25 wickets or more.
At just 23 years of age, Afridi is the fourth highest wicket-taker from Pakistan in World Cups after Imran Khan (34), Wahab Riaz (35) and Wasim Akram (55).
To put Afridi's stunning rise in perspective, the legendary World Cup winning captain Imran took 34 wickets across five World Cups whereas Afridi has 32 in just two tournaments. What's even more amazing is that Afridi was not considered for four matches in the previous World Cup.
The best among Pakistan pacers
Pakistan are known for their fast bowlers and have produced many legendary pacers over the years. But Afridi has left all of them behind with his consistent performances.
Afridi, who made his ODI debut in Abu Dhabi in 2018, has 102 wickets at an average of 22.82, the best among 14 pacers from Pakistan with 100 or more wickets.
Afridi's striking prowess
Afridi has taken a wicket in each of his last 23 ODIs, by far the longest streak for a Pakistan bowler in ODI history with the next best being Saqlain Mushtaq and Shoaib Akhtar, who took a wicket in 16 consecutive ODIs.
Afridi's career strike-rate in ODIs is 25.2, the best among 116 fast bowlers in the world who have taken 100 or more wickets. What that means is on average, Afridi takes a wicket every 25 balls.
Most wickets since Afridi's debut
Since making his international debut in a T20 series against West Indies in April 2018 on the back of a fine season with Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League, Shaheen has been one of the most prolific bowlers in the world.
He has bagged 271 wickets across formats (Tests, ODIs and T20Is). Only two bowlers (Pat Cummins 275 and Mitchell Starc 280) have taken more wickets during this time.
Afridi has taken that many wickets despite missing six months of cricket in the previous season due to a knee injury.
Due to his consistent performance across formats, Afridi was named the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year for 2021, the youngest ever to get the highest award in cricket.
He is also the only Pakistan bowler who has an average below 26 each format (Tests 25.58, ODIs 22.82 and T20Is 22.73).
A man of many records
It’s not just ODIs where Afridi is creating records. He is equally good in other formats too, particularly T20s. This year, while playing for Nottinghamshire in the T20 Blast, he became the first bowler in history to take 4 wickets in the first over of the innings. That was done against Birmingham.
Afridi captains Lahore Qalandars in the PSL where he has won back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023. The 2022 title made him the youngest captain to win a major T20 competition. He was 21 at that time.
No captain in the PSL has a better winning record than him.
The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
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THE SIXTH SENSE
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Desert Warrior
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F1 2020 calendar
March 15 - Australia, Melbourne; March 22 - Bahrain, Sakhir; April 5 - Vietnam, Hanoi; April 19 - China, Shanghai; May 3 - Netherlands, Zandvoort; May 20 - Spain, Barcelona; May 24 - Monaco, Monaco; June 7 - Azerbaijan, Baku; June 14 - Canada, Montreal; June 28 - France, Le Castellet; July 5 - Austria, Spielberg; July 19 - Great Britain, Silverstone; August 2 - Hungary, Budapest; August 30 - Belgium, Spa; September 6 - Italy, Monza; September 20 - Singapore, Singapore; September 27 - Russia, Sochi; October 11 - Japan, Suzuka; October 25 - United States, Austin; November 1 - Mexico City, Mexico City; November 15 - Brazil, Sao Paulo; November 29 - Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi.
