Shahid Afridi sets new record for most wickets in T20I

With his three wickets against England in the second T20I, Afridi is now the all-time leading wicket-taker in T20I's with 86. He jumps ahead of former teammate Saeed Ajmal. Umar Gul is third on the list. The trio of Pakistani bowlers are the only bowlers to have taken 80+ wickets in this format of the game. I was surprised to learn that Nathan McCullum is seventh on the list with 55 wickets.

stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/i...results;type=bowling

Oh, what a talent!

In his pomp, there was no doubting that Afridi was one of the games best T20 players, although over the last year he has been nothing more than a shell of his former self. Prior to this match, over the last year, Boom Boom had averaged just 13.50 with the bat and 58.40 with the ball. Still, teams around the world are more than happy to throw money at him to come play in their domestic T20 competitions. When on form, he is incredibly fun to watch, it is just a shame that those days are few and far between now.

Of course it helps that Afridi has played at least 22 matches more than anyone else in the top 10. His economy is decent, but his average is worse than all of the other nine.

From a South African perspective it was pleasing to see where Dale Steyn is on that list given how few T20I matches he's played.

Dale Steyn, for my money, is the greatest seam bowler of the 21st century. Regardless of the format, he is a wicket-taking machine. Brett Lee, Lasith Malinga, Glenn McGrath, Shoaib Akhtar, Mitchell Johnson, Jimmy Anderson, Morne Morkel and Makhaya Ntini all deserve consideration, but Steyn would be my first choice. I would also throw Shane Bond into the mix, it is just a shame that injuries ravaged his career.

Not taking away from Afridi's record but the Asian teams seem to have played more t20 cricket than most other nations and therefore players like Afridi and the Sri Lankans will likely have the records for most runs and wickets.

I was going to make the exact same point to be honest, but I'd also like to say I'm not taking anything away from Afridi's record either.

On a side note, T20 games are still in their infancy relatively, and while for me they are an important format now of the game and helped attract a newer, possibly even younger audience, I'm not sure I like how some players are developing into T20 specialists, and I feel they should still be learning their trade in the traditional formats of the game also.

I'm not sure that having specialists in the different formats is a bad thing. Some players who have been very successful in the one day game were just never cut out to be test players. The player that immediately comes to mind is Australia's Michael Bevan, who was one of their one day stars, averaging 53.58 with the bat over a career lasting 232 games, while only ever playing 18 test matches.

Afridi rolled back the years again today. His bowling on that pitch was brilliant. He bowled with pace and made good use of a wicket that was skidding on and turning. The commentators suggested that might be the last match Boom Boom plays in front of the fans in the UAE. If so, he can hold his head up high. He is equal parts fun and terrifying to watch with the bat.

I understand what your saying, and certain players are cut out for different formats of the game, and I agree, I get that. I just feel as if players are giving up on test match cricket a bit to early.

While test match cricket isn't dead in the water, one day and T20 games are gaining popularity, and sometimes it seems that players are often to enthusiastic to ditch test match cricket and go for the glory of the shorter formats of the game.