Ahmed Shehzad (born 23 November 1991) is a former Pakistani international

cricketer 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 ...

. He is an opening batsman who made his

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 ...

and

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). ...

debut for

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

in April 2009 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 ...

. He was a member of the Pakistan team that won the

2009 ICC World Twenty20 The 2009 ICC World Twenty20 was the second edition of the Men's T20 World Cup, formerly known as the ICC World Twenty20 that took place in England in June 2009. As before, the tournament featured 12 male teams – nine of the ten Test cricket, ...

. In the 2014 T20 World Cup, he became the first Pakistani to score a century in a T20 world cup, with his 111 against Bangladesh.

Early and personal life

Shehzad was born on 23 November 1991 in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

. He was born into a

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghans until 1964 after the ...

family of the Afridi clan and, besides English and Urdu, he can speak

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

as well. He grew up in a middle-class environment in a modest house near the famous

Anarkali Bazaar Anarkali Bazaar (Punjabi language, Punjabi, ) is a major bazaar in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan. Anarkali also serves as a neighbourhood and union council of Data Gunj Buksh Town, Data Gunj Buksh Tehsil of Lahore. It is situated in ...

. On 19 September 2015, Shehzad married Sana, his childhood friend. They had a boy in 2017. In 2021, they had a second baby, a daughter.

Domestic and franchise career

Ahmed Shehzad was the highest run scorer in BPL 2011-12 and the best batsman of the tournament. Shehzad was the leading run-scorer in the 2016–17 Departmental One Day Cup, with 653 runs, including a career-best score in

List A cricket List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the num ...

of 166 in the semi-final. He was also the captain of the team. During the tournament he scored three centuries and three half-centuries in nine matches. He was the highest runs scorer and man of the tournament in 2016 Pakistan Cup. He scored 372 runs in only 5 matches with the help of 3 half centuries and a hundred. In April 2018, he was named as the captain of

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region o ...

's squad for the

2018 Pakistan Cup The 2018 Pakistan Cup was the third edition of the Pakistan Cup, a List A cricket competition which was contested between five teams. It was held from 25 April to 6 May 2018, with all the matches played at the Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad. Feder ...

. He scored the most runs for Baluchistan during the tournament, with 251 runs in four matches. In March 2019, he was named in Federal Areas' squad for the

2019 Pakistan Cup The 2019 Pakistan Cup was the fourth edition of the Pakistan Cup, a List A cricket competition which was contested between five teams. It was held from 2 to 12 April 2019, with all the matches played at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. The Pakis ...

. He failed a doping test in 2018 and was banned for 10 weeks. In July 2019, he was selected to play for the Amsterdam Knights in the inaugural edition of the

Euro T20 Slam The euro (symbol: €; currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the euro area or, more commonly, the eurozone. The euro is divided into 100 ...

cricket tournament. However, the following month the tournament was cancelled. In September 2019, he was named in Central Punjab's squad for the 2019–20 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy tournament. He was retained by Central Punjab for the 2020–21 domestic season. In November 2021, he was selected to play for the Colombo Stars following the players' draft for the 2021 Lanka Premier League. On 15 December 2023, Shehzad announced that he was leaving the PSL after not being selected by any franchise.

International career

Shehzad made his first-class debut in 2007. The innings which led to a call-up for the national team was a 167 he scored in Pakistan Youth's victory against England. Shehzad made his Test debut against Sri Lanka in 2013 scoring 38 in the first innings and 55 in the second. Ahmed Shehzad was part of the Test squad against South Africa in UAE. However he wasn't selected in the playing XI in either of the 2 Tests against South Africa. He has a 40+ test average for

Pakistan 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 ...

with the help of 3 hundreds and 3 half centuries. His test hundreds have been scored 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, ...

where he scored 147 runs,

where he scored 136 runs and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

where he scored 176 runs In his

career he has scored 6 hundreds and 14 half centuries. In his

career, he has scored 1 hundred 7 fifties. He is First Pakistani player who has scored a century in all three forms of cricket.

Controversies

Shehzad was issued a one-match ban in 2011 for showing dissent in the

Quaid-e-Azam Trophy The Quaid-e-Azam Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket competition in Pakistan. With few exceptions, it has been staged annually since it was first played during the 1953–54 season. Domestic cricket in Pakistan has undergone many reorganis ...

, one month before being issued a fine on disciplinary grounds. The

Pakistan Cricket Board The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), formerly known as Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan (BCCP), is a sports governing body for cricket in Pakistan responsible for controlling and organising all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan ...

(PCB) issued Shehzad an official reprimand after his frequent quarrels with Sri Lankan batsman

Tillakaratne Dilshan Tillakaratne Mudiyanselage Dilshan (; born 14 October 1976), commonly known as TM Dilshan () is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and former captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team. He is often regarded as the best rated Sri Lankan player i ...

about Dilshan's conversion from

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

. Shehzad was caught on camera telling Dilshan: During a

Pakistan Super League The Pakistan Super League (PSL), also known as HBL PSL for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in Pakistan, organised by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Founded by the PCB in 2015, the league features six city-bas ...

group stage match vs

Peshawar Zalmi Peshawar Zalmi (; ; literally meaning "Peshawar's youth") is a Pakistani franchise Twenty20 cricket team which plays in the Pakistan Super League and represents Peshawar, the capital city of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The team is owned b ...

, Shehzad had an exchange of words and physical conflict with bowler Wahab Riaz. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) imposed a fine on both players and issued an official warning to them.

Records and achievements

Source: *First Pakistani batsman to have scored centuries in all international formats of the game (i.e. Test, ODI and T20I). * 2nd Most runs (111*) and 2nd most sixes (6) in a T20I innings by a Pakistani. * Most runs (168) in a two–match T20I series by a Pakistani cricketer. * He is 2nd fastest 5000 runs scorer in T20 cricket from Pakistan * He is 2nd highest centuries maker in T20 cricket from Asia after

Rohit Sharma Rohit Sharma (born 30 April 1987) is an Indian Cricket, international cricketer and the Captain (cricket), captain of the India national cricket team, national team in One Day International, ODIs. He is also a former captain in Tests and T20 ...

and

Babar Azam Mohammad Babar Azam (Urdu, ; ; born 15 October 1994) is a Pakistani international cricketer and a former Captain (cricket), captain of the Pakistan national cricket team , national team in all three formats of the game. A right-handed top-orde ...

. * Highest run scorer for the Lahore Lions. * Second quickest batsman to score centuries in all three formats of international cricket (76 innings) just behind KL Rahul. * Highest run scorer for the Quetta Gladiators until 2021. * First Pakistani batsman to hit three consecutive sixes in T20I. * Holds the record for the most boundaries in a single T20 inning (20 fours) * He is the first Pakistani who scored hundred against

Cricket South Africa Cricket South Africa aka CSA is the governing body for both professional and amateur cricket in South Africa. In 1991, the separate South African Cricket Union and the South African Cricket Board merged to form the United Cricket Board of South ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

* He is youngest Pakistani player who scored 150+ runs in a test inning * He had the record of fastest century in t20 Cricket from Pakistan just in 40 balls until 2020 * He had the record of highest t20i partnership for Pakistan along with Mohammad Hafeez 143* until 2021 * He has the record of Most catches in the field for Pakistan national under-19 cricket team * He has the record of 2nd Most centuries from Pakistan in t20 Cricket 5 centuries * He has the record of Most Half centuries for Quetta Gladiators in

* He has the record of Most centuries in knockout t20 matches 3 centuries * He has the record of Most Half centuries in the finals of

2 half centuries in 3 finals * He scored first half century of tournament in Kashmir Premier League history * Being captain he scored 630+ runs with the help of 3 centuries and 3 half centuries in nine games of departmental one day cup 2016 and won the final for his team HBL and got the award of Man of the final * He was man of the tournament in BPL 2012. * He scored 341 runs with the average of 51 for Quetta Gladiators in 4th edition of

PSL PSL may refer to: Sport *Pakistan Super League, a Twenty20 cricket league *Palau Soccer League, top division association football league in Palau *Pilipinas Super League, a professional basketball league *Philippine Super Liga, a defunct profes ...

and lift the trophy for his team first time

References

External links

Official Facebook
*

s profile page on Wisden {{DEFAULTSORT:Shehzad, Ahmed 1991 births Living people Pashtun cricketers Afridi people Doping cases in Pakistani cricket Doping cases in cricket Punjab (Pakistan) cricketers Habib Bank Limited cricketers Pakistan Test cricketers Pakistan One Day International cricketers Pakistan Twenty20 International cricketers 21st-century Pakistani sportsmen Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup Pakistani cricketers Lahore Eagles cricketers Nagenahira Nagas cricketers Pakistani expatriate cricketers in Sri Lanka Jamaica Tallawahs cricketers Cricketers from Lahore Comilla Victorians cricketers Fortune Barishal cricketers Pakistani expatriate cricketers in Bangladesh Quetta Gladiators cricketers Multan Sultans cricketers Central Punjab cricketers Kandy Falcons cricketers