Pakistan big-hitter Shahid Afridi set to play T-20 cricket for Northamptonshire

Midlands Club Cricket county has revealed that Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi will play for English county club Northamptonshire in the first six rounds of English cricket's 2015 Twenty20 Blast competition.

The big-hitting all-rounder, who is nicknamed 'Boom Boom' for his dynamism with the bat, holds the record for the most sixes in ODIs with 342 to his credit. He has a strike-rate of 116.29 from 389 ODIs and 145.29 from 77 T20 games for Pakistan.

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Northamptonshire coach David Ripley revealed that Afridi doesn't need a big introduction, adding that he is one of the top one-day cricketers of the last decade. He said that he believes they were in the 'right place at the right time to get a bit of dialogue going', Sport24 reported. The former Northamptonshire wicketkeeper added that it's a 'very exciting signing', claiming that it's for the start of the competition so 'hopefully they can come out of the blocks quickly'.

Ripley said that they might not be able to finance another player further down the line, but added that they haven't given up hope on that. Afridi, who has also played county cricket for Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Kent and Hampshire, has said that he would retire from ODI cricket following this year's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, which starts next month.