Shaheen Afridi gets married to Shahid Afridi's daughter in Karachi; Babar Azam, Shadab Khan attend wedding

Pakistan left-arm pacer Shaheen Afridi got married to former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi's daughter, Ansha, in Karachi on Friday, February 3. The wedding ceremony was attended by a number of Shaheen’s teammates, including Babar Azam, Sarfaraz Khan, Shadab Khan, and Naseem Shah.

Shaheen, who has been out of cricketing action since the T20 World Cup final against England in November 2022, got engaged to Ansha back in 2021.

On Friday evening, Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Lahore Qalandars took to Twitter to share pictures and a video from Shaheen's wedding ceremony. The franchise shared a couple of images with the caption:

“Lahore Qalandars wishes eternal bliss to ©️ @iShaheenAfridi.”

A video clip from the ceremony was also shared with the caption:

"Qabool Hai, Qabool Hai #NewBeginings #ShaheenShahAfridi.”

A key member of Pakistan’s national cricket team across all three formats, Shaheen has played 25 Tests, 32 ODIs, and 47 T20Is, claiming 219 international wickets in total.

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“There were times when I wanted to give up” - Shaheen Afridi on injury struggles

While Shaheen has undoubtedly been one of Pakistan’s star performers ever since he made his international debut in 2018, the left-arm pacer has had his fair share of injury woes. The fast bowler recently even admitted that he had thoughts of giving up. Speaking in a video on YouTube, the 22-year-old said:

“There were times when I wanted to give up. I was working on only one muscle and it was not improving. Often during the rehabilitation sessions, I used to say to myself ‘this is enough, I cannot do this anymore.

"But then I used to watch my bowling on YouTube and see how well I had done and that motivated me and I told myself ‘to push a little more' … It is frustrating for a fast bowler to miss cricket because of an injury.”

Shaheen claimed the big wicket of Alex Hales with a brute of a delivery in the T20 World Cup final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) last year. However, he limped off the field after bowling only 2.1 overs.

The pacer is all set to lead Lahore Qalandars in PSL 2023, which begins on February 13.