Pakistan pacer Shaheen Afridi named ICC men's Cricketer of the Year for 2021

Pakistan leftarm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi on Monday was named as the ICC mens Cricketer of the Year for 2021 At 21 years Afridi is the youngest cricketer ever to get the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy and is the first Pakistani player to receive the honour as well It is also the fourth individual trophy bagged by Pakistan in this edition of the ICC awardsThe tall Pakistani quick was on fire throughout 2021 knocking some of the best batters over across all three formats of the game Afridi had a year to remember in Tests and T20Is reaching his peak during the ICC Mens T20 World Cup in UAE where he impressed one and all with his sheer speed and skillsI tried to produce performances for Pakistan In 2021 our team performed really well and we won some really good matches I always try to produce good performances for Pakistan and will continue with my efforts There is a lot of support for others in our team We have gelled together and feel happy when we see our teammates doing well said Afridi in his acceptance speechHe would take seven wickets in six matches during the tournament in Pakistans thrilling run to the semifinal He ruled the shortest format of the game throughout the calendar year scalping 23 wickets in 21 matches with his death bowling skills improving by leaps and boundsAfter a slow start to the year in Test cricket in New Zealand Afridi burst to life during the home series against South Africa He continued his brilliant form throughout the rest of the year in the away tours of Zimbabwe West Indies and Bangladesh Overall he claimed 47 wickets in only nine matches at a staggering average of 1706But his memorable performance of 2021 came in the 331 against India in their opening match of the ICC mens T20 World Cup in Dubai I had many good performances including fivefors in Tests but my most memorable performance was during our victory against India It was a historical match and matches with India draw a big audience Performing against India was a highlight for me in 2021 It was a great year for me and hopefully you will see good performances in 2022 tooAfridis opening burst tilted the match in Pakistans favour trapping Rohit Sharma with a late inswinger This would be followed by the dismissal of KL Rahul whose stumps were knocked over with another peach of a delivery Later on he would also get the prized scalp of Virat Kohli in the death overs India simply could not recover from the opening shock and slumped to their firstever defeat against Pakistan in a T20 World CupAfridi got praise from all quarters for his spell including from Indian captain Virat Kohli in the postmatch chat He put our batsmen under pressure immediately with the new ball and he ran in with intensity and showed that hes bowling in consistent areas so as batsmen you are forced to be a bit watchful That spell kind of put us on the back foot immediately and from there on to get those extra 20 25 runs in the end seemed pretty difficult when you lose three wickets for 20 runsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever