Pakistan’s cricketing icon Shahid Afridi has been honoured with the prestigious civilian award Hilal-e-Imtiaz for his remarkable contributions to sports. The award comes as part of the celebrations for Pakistan’s 78th Independence Day, recognising nine distinguished sportspersons for their exceptional achievements.
Shahid Afridi’s Stellar Career and Achievements
Known affectionately as “Boom Boom”, Shahid Afridi has played 524 international matches across formats for Pakistan. He has amassed 11,196 runs with the bat and claimed 541 wickets as a bowler. A highlight of his career was the 2009 ICC T20 World Cup victory, where Afridi played a pivotal role in Pakistan’s success.
Speaking about the honour, Afridi shared:
“𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒍-𝒆-𝑰𝒎𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒛. 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒚, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒎𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑷𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏.”
Other Honorees in Sports
Alongside Shahid Afridi, Shahroz Kashif, Pakistan’s youngest mountaineer to scale 14 peaks over 8,000 meters, and the late equestrian Malik Muhammad Atta will also receive the Hilal-e-Imtiaz, the highest civilian award in sports.
Former Pakistan women’s cricket captain Sana Mir, recently inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame, has been nominated for the Sitara-e-Imtiaz. Mir represented Pakistan for nearly 15 years, becoming the first Pakistani woman cricketer to achieve this global honour.
Para-athlete Haider Ali, who recently won bronze in discus throw at the Paris Paralympics, has also been nominated for the Sitara-e-Imtiaz in recognition of his outstanding achievements.
Other notable awards include:
- President’s Award for Pride of Performance: Shahzaib Rind (mixed martial arts), Muhammad Sajjad (kabaddi)
- Tamgha-e-Imtiaz: Hamza Khan (squash), Mohsin Nawaz (shooting), Rashid Malik (tennis)
The awards ceremony is scheduled for Pakistan Day on March 23, 2026, where the nation will formally honour these sporting heroes.
“𝑹𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒃𝒊𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒆,” 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒂 𝒈𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒅𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕.
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