Shahid Afridi tests positive for Covid-19, asks fans to keep him in prayers

Former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi has tested positive for Covid-19. Afridi, in a tweet, revealed that he had been feeling unwell since Thursday and his Covid-19 test result came out positive. He asked his fans and well-wishers to keep him in their prayers for speedy recovery and ended his post with ‘hope not out’.

Afridi, took Twitter to break the news saying that "I’ve been feeling unwell since Thursday; my body had been aching badly. I’ve been tested and unfortunately I’m covid positive. Need prayers for a speedy recovery, InshaAllah,” Afridi tweeted.

The Pakistan all-rounder is the third Pakistan cricketer to test positive for the novel virus after Taufeeq Umar and Zafar Sarfaraz. However, Taufeeq Umar recovered from coronavirus after going into a 14-day self-isolation at home. The former Pakistan opener tested positive last month. He then underwent a second test after 14 days which came out to be negative in the first week of June.

Scotland’s Majid Haq and South Africa’s Solo Nqweni are the other cricketers to have contracted the coronavirus.

Cricketer turned social worker:

Afridi has been doing social work during the global lockdown to control the spread of Covid-19 via ‘Shahid Afridi Foundation’. He also urged people to donate to his foundation

Last month, Shahid Afridi had stepped in to buy a bat owned by Bangladesh's Mushfiqur Rahim after a charity auction for coronavirus victims was derailed by fake bids.

Mushfiqur Rahim put the bat he used to score Bangladesh's first Test double hundred in 2013 against Sri Lanka up for the highest bidder online this week. But organisers called off the auction as fake offers sent the price soaring over USD 50,000, Mushfiqur Rahim said. "Afridi contacted me personally and I sent him a link of the bid," the Bangladesh cricketer said in an online forum.

"On May 13 he sent me a letter and offered USD 20,000. He bought my bat with this money. I am really privileged," he said.

Career:

In a career spanning over 20 years, Afridi represented Pakistan in 27 Tests, 398 One-day Internationals (ODIs) and 99 Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is). He scored 8,064 runs in ODIs, 1,716 runs in Tests and 1,416 in the shortest format of the game. 

During the fag end of his career, Afridi impressed more with his bowling skills than his batting skills. He finished with 395 wickets to his name in the 50-over format in addition to taking 48 and 98 wickets in Tests and T20Is respectively.