Shahid Afridi became a star with his sensational 37-ball century against Sri Lanka in his debut series for Pakistan in 1996. He scored 102 off 40 balls with six fours and eleven sixes to set the record for the fastest ODI century by any batsman at that time. The record stood till 2014 when New Zealand's Corey Anderson scored a 36-ball hundred against West Indies.
The Pakistan star has now revealed that his century had an India connection. In his recently-launched biography ‘Game Changer’, Afridi has revealed that he used the bat of legendary Sachin Tendulkar to play that knock.
Sachin had given his bat to Waqar Younis to take it to Sialkot — the famous sports goods manufacturing city in Pakistan — to get a custom-made replica made of it.
“But guess what Waqar did before he took it to Sialkot? He gave it to me before I went in to bat. So, effectively, that first century in Nairobi by Shahid Afridi was made with Sachin Tendulkar’s best bat. Go figure,” writes Afridi.
Afridi was playing his 2nd ODI for Pakistan and batting for the first time ever as he had not got a chance to bat in his debut game.
In his book, he also revealed how he had dreamt of smashing sixes against the likes of Sanath Jayasuriya and Muttiah Muralitharan a night before his knock.
He had told his roommate Shadab Kabir about the dream before turning it into a reality on the pitch. "'I had a dream that I was slamming Jayasuriya and Muralitharan and Dharmasena for sixes,' I said. 'Big, huge sixes.'
'Let's pray it happens, brother,' said Shadab'," Afridi wrote in his book.
