Shaheen Afridi may be well known for his brilliant bowling performances but it was his batting prowess that was in full display during the fourth ODI between Pakistan and New Zealand on Friday. The left-hander thrashed Blair Tickner for 22 runs in the final over of the Pakistan innings and ended his innings on 23 off just 7 deliveries. Shaheen started the over with a six off the second ball and followed it up with a power boundary through the cover region. The next ball again went long as he heaved it over long-on and although the next one was a duck, the final ball travelled into the stands behind mid-wicket.
Twitter was left awestruck by his brilliant batting and the comparisons with father-in-law Shahid Afridi did not take much time.
As for the 4th ODI, a century from Babar Azam, his 18th in the format, and contributions from others helped Pakistan post a tall total of 334.
Babar became the fastest to 5000 ODI runs in the process, reaching the milestone in his 96th ODI innings. The record was previously held by Hashim Amla, who achieved the feat in 101 innings.
Pakistan also went to the top of the ICC Men's ODI Team Rankings with a win in Karachi in the fourth ODI against New Zealand. The hosts, who now lead 4-0 in the series that has one game to go, have 113 rating points, and edge Australia and India by decimal points.
Pakistan, who were fifth with 106 rating points in the ODI rankings before the start of the series, were in top form as they chased down tall targets in the first two ODIs.
With ANI inputs