Afridi’s autobiography to release next year

Boom boom Afridi is all set to be immortalised in a biography which will release next year.

Titled Shahid Afridi: An Autobiography, the biography will be written by Emmy nominated multimedia journalist, Wajahat S Khan, and chronicle undisclosed details of the cricketer’s life.

Harper Collin’s India uploaded a post on Facebook to announce the news.

Shahid Afridi, who made a name for himself at the young age of 16; making a record-breaking 37-ball century in 1996, spoke to PTI about his book and said: ‘In all my years of cricket, I’ve given hundreds of interviews and done dozens of TV shows, but what you will read in my memoir are the stories and thoughts I’ve never shared openly. I have a lot to say: about my confidence, my fears, my adversaries, my ambitions, my goals and failures.’

He adds, that he has ‘opened up about my rivalries and my alliances, particularly those with India, as well as my infatuation with the military and my take on politics.’

‘It was a tall order to get myself ready to do this, but I’m proud to join hands with a fine storyteller and journalist like Wajahat bhai. I’m also thankful to my publishers for giving me the space to be myself.’

Khan sheds light on working with the Pakistani all-rounder and admits that it was not only an ‘exciting’ experience but also ‘quite scary’.

‘He may be the most in-your-face cricketer Pakistan - or even South Asia - has ever produced, but Afridi isn’t an open-and-shut case to study. Interviewing and working with one of the greatest - and most complicated - cricketing icons wasn’t just exciting, it was also quite scary,’ says the journalist, DAWN reported.

‘Getting inside his head is like bowling to the man. You never know what may happen when you get within range.

‘Shahid Afridi: An Autobiography’ is not just about Afridi and Pakistan cricket, but also about the other Afridis we haven’t heard about: the lost kid with the singular focus of pulling his parents out of poverty, the desperate captain trying not to snitch on his corrupt teammates, the gallant Pashtun centurion staring down a hostile Indian crowd.’

Publisher and chief editor of HarperCollins India Karthika VK is just as excited about the union and says, ‘It will be a great addition to the Harper Sport list and I look forward to working with him and Wajahat to make a memorable book.’