Numbers rumble on Afridi's day

Stats highlights form Afridi's emphatic return to ODIs in the first match of bilateral series between West Indies and Pakistan

Shiva Jayaraman

15-Jul-2013

Shahid Afridi is the only player in ODIs to have taken 350 wickets and hit 7000 runs  •  AFP

Shahid Afridi has now become the only player in ODI history to score 7000 or more runs and take 350 wickets. Dwayne Bravo's wicket was Afridi's 350th, making him only the eighth bowler, and the third Pakistan bowler after Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, in ODIs to take these many. The only other player to take 300-plus wickets and score 7000-plus runs in ODIs is Sanath Jayasuriya.

Afridi has taken a five-wicket haul and hit fifty-plus runs in a match three times in his career. No other player has repeated this feat more than once. The last time this was done in ODIs was also by Afridi, against Sri Lanka, in 2011. This was the 16th instance of a player taking a five-wicket haul and scoring fifty or more runs in the same match.

Afridi's bowling figures of 7 for 12 were the second-best in ODIs. The best figures in ODIs belong to Chaminda Vaas, who took 8 for 19 against Zimbabwe in 2001. Afridi's bowling figures in this match are the best for a spinner in ODIs. These figures were also the best for a bowler bowling third change or later in an innings. In terms of runs given, this was Afridi's most economical spell in ODIs in which he has bowled five or more overs.

This was Afridi's 30th Man-of-the-Match performance, which equals the number of such awards won by Brian Lara and Aravinda de Silva. Only six players have won more Man-of-the-Match awards, but among active ODI players, only Jacques Kallis, with 32, has won more such awards. Among Pakistan players, Afridi holds the record; Saeed Anwar is next with 28.

Afridi's performances in matches in which he's made a return to ODIs (after missing out on one or more series) have been excellent. In eight such matches he averages 46.85 with the bat from seven innings, including four half-centuries. His bowling outshines his batting in these matches: he has taken 23 wickets, including two five-fors, at an average of 10.30 and a strike rate of 15.3. His impact in these matches is reflected in the number of Man-of-the-Match awards he's won in these eight games - four.

Afridi's bowling average of 16.87 in the West Indies is the best by a visiting bowler to have bowled in at least ten innings. His strike rate of 24.5 is the third-best for a visiting bowler, with a minimum of ten innings in the West Indies.

This was only the eighth instance of West Indies getting bowled out for under 100 runs and only the second at home. The last time West Indies got dismissed for under 100 runs was in February 2011 against Australia at Perth.

Misbah-ul-Haq's fifty in the match ranks fourth in the list of slowest fifty-plus scores by Pakistan's batsmen. Javed Miandad's unbeaten 63 from 167 balls against West Indies is the slowest fifty-plus score by a Pakistan batsman. Three of the four slowest fifty-plus scores by Pakistan batsmen have now come against West Indies.

This was Chris Gayle's 250th ODI of his career. He hasn't played all of his ODIs for West Indies though. Gayle has represented the ICC World XI in three ODIs. He is three ODIs away from becoming only the third West Indies player, after Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, to play 250 or more ODIs.

Jason Holder doubled his tally of ODI wickets in this match. Holder's spell of 4 for 13 bettered his performance in his previous three ODIs.

Jason Holder Chris Gayle Sanath Jayasuriya Shahid Afridi Javed Miandad Pakistan West Indies West Indies vs Pakistan

Shiva Jayaraman is a sub-editor (stats) at ESPNcricinfo