In 1996, a 16-year-old prodigy took the cricketing world by storm, hitting the Sri Lankan bowlers all around the park. The wunderkind was Pakistan's Shahid Afridi, who scored a hundred of just 37 deliveries on October 4, two days after debuting against Kenya.
Twenty-three years since Afridi played that blistering knock, it turns out the "wunderkind" wasn't really a "kid" back then.
In his autobiography, titled "Game Changer", Afridi sheds some light on his real age. "I was just nineteen, and not sixteen as they claim. I was born in 1975. So yes, the authorities stated my age incorrectly." The boom-boom batsman officially turned 39 on March 1 this year.
But even his latest claim is inconsistent with facts. If Afridi was born in 1975, and not in 1980 as stated by official records, he would have been 21 when he debuted and not 19 as he says.
Though South Africa's AB de Villiers holds the record of the fastest ODI hundred now, Afridi is still youngest batsman to score a century in ODI cricket.
If Afridi's revelation were to affect the record books, he could very well be at the risk of losing another record, and this time to Afghanistan's Usman Ghani.
Ghani scored an ODI century against Zimbabwe in 2014 at the age of 17.
The attacking batsman tweeted about his book on Thursday, writing, "Alhamdulillah, Game Changer is already making waves. But don't go for the media hype... If I've been tough on someone, I've given them credit where its due!"
