Abdullah Shafique (; born 20 November 1999) is a Pakistani international

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who plays for the

Pakistan national cricket team The Pakistan men's national cricket team represents Pakistan in international cricket. It is controlled by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), the governing body for cricket in Pakistan, which is a Full Member of the International Cricket Counc ...

across all formats. A right-handed top-order batter, he also plays for

Lahore Qalandars Lahore Qalandars is a Pakistani professional cricket franchise which plays in the Pakistan Super League, representing Lahore, the capital of Punjab. They are the current champions of the PSL and the most successful team in the tournament's hist ...

in the

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and previously played for

Central Punjab Central Punjab is a geopolitical region in Punjab, Pakistan. Geography Central Punjab is bounded by the southern boundary of Jhelum River down to the Sutlej, and consists of the five divisions: Lahore, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, and Sahiwa ...

and

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in Pakistan's domestic cricket.

Early life and family

Shafique was born in

Sialkot Sialkot (Punjabi language, Punjabi, ) is a city located in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of the Sialkot District and the List of most populous cities in Pakistan, 12th most populous city in Pakistan. The boundaries of Sialkot are joined ...

on 20 November 1999, into a Punjabi Muslim Gujjar family. His father Shafiq Ahmed is a long-term resident of

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

, where he moved in 1991. He was a professional cricketer and later became a cricket coach. His uncle Arshad Ali played international cricket for the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

. Under the supervision of his father, who has coached at

GEMS Modern Academy GEMS Modern Academy (), formerly known as Dubai Modern High School, is a private school situated in the Nad Al Sheba area of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The school is part of the GEMS group of schools, an international school business. ...

in Dubai since 2003 and has produced more than 20 international cricketers for the UAE, Abdullah began his cricket training at the age of 3 and later integrated the Pakistan under-19 team at the age of 16. Outside cricket Abdullah also enjoys music, is a singer himself and plays the

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

; different songs he has sung have gone viral.

Domestic career

In November 2017, Shafique was bought by

Multan Sultans Multan Sultans is a Pakistani professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team representing Multan, a city in southern Punjab, in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The team was founded in 2017 as an additional sixth team added to the PSL with contra ...

in the 2018 Pakistan Super League players draft but did not play in the competition. In December 2019, he made his first-class debut for

in the

2019–20 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy The 2019–20 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy was a first-class domestic cricket competition that took place in Pakistan from 14 September to 31 December 2019. Habib Bank Limited were the defending champions. However, after the new domestic structure was ...

, scoring 133 runs. In September 2020, he made his

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

debut for Central Punjab in the 2020–21 National T20 Cup, scoring 102

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

. As a result, he became the first Pakistani batsman to score a century on his first-class and T20 debut. In December 2021, Shafique was named in Lahore Qalandar's squad for the 2022 Pakistan Super League season (PSL).

International career

In October 2020, following his performances in the National T20 Cup, he was named in a 22-man squad of "probables" for Pakistan's home series against Zimbabwe. In November 2020, he was named in Pakistan's 15-man squad for the third

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

(ODI) match against Zimbabwe, though he did not play. He made his

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

(T20I) debut for Pakistan, against

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

, on 10 November 2020. The same month, he was named in Pakistan's 35-man squad for their tour to New Zealand. In January 2021, he was named in Pakistan's

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

squad for their series against South Africa. In March 2021, he was named in Pakistan's

(ODI) squad for their series against South Africa, and their

squad for their series against Zimbabwe. In June 2021, Shafique was again named in Pakistan's ODI squad, this time for the series against England. He was also named in Pakistan's Test squad for the series against the West Indies. In September 2021, he was named in Pakistan's ODI squad for their series against New Zealand. The following month, he was named in the Pakistan Shaheens squad for their tour of Sri Lanka. In November 2021, he was named in Pakistan's

squad for their series against Bangladesh. He made his Test debut on 26 November 2021, for Pakistan against

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. In February 2022, Shafique was named in Pakistan's

squad for the series against Australia. Abdullah Shafique scored his maiden

century A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. ...

in the first match's fourth innings. He scored 397 runs during the three Test matches. In March 2022, Shafique was named in Pakistan's

(ODI) squad for their series against Australia. In May 2022, he was named in Pakistan's ODI squad for the series against the West Indies. In July 2022, he was named in Pakistan's squad for the tour of Sri Lanka. In the fourth innings of the first Test, he scored a historic 160* to win the match in

Galle Galle (, ; , ) (formerly ) is a major city on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, south of Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern Province, Sri Lanka and is the capital of Galle District. Galle was known as ''Gi ...

. In August 2022, he was named in Pakistan's ODI squad, for their tour of the Netherlands. He made his ODI debut on 21 August 2022, for Pakistan, against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. In December 2022, he scored his third Test hundred against England at

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, third-largest city in the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is a commercial and industrial hub, being the list of cities in P ...

. In October 2023, he made his World Cup debut in the 2023 World Cup against

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

held in

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

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, and marked the occasion by scoring his first ODI century in his very first World Cup match, leading Pakistan to victory and simultaneously breaking the record for the highest successful run chase in a World Cup match. He scored 113 off 103 balls with a strike rate of 109.71. He also played an inning of 64 runs on 61 balls in a losing cause in his second world cup match against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in M.Chinaswamy stadium Banglore on 20 October 2023. On 23 October, he batted sensibly against Afghanistan scoring 58 runs off 75 balls before being pinned LBW by Noor Ahmed.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shafique, Abdullah 1999 births Living people Pakistani cricketers Pakistan Test cricketers Pakistan One Day International cricketers Pakistan Twenty20 International cricketers 21st-century Pakistani sportsmen Multan Sultans cricketers Central Punjab cricketers Cricketers from Sialkot