“Once every hundred innings, Afridi lives up to expectation,” commented ex-South African batsman Daryl Cullinan while commentating on an ODI in South Africa in 2007. He wasn’t far wrong.
Shahid Afridi has, for the majoirty of his Pakistan career, lived on his reputation alone.
Apart from his debut in 1996, up until the World Cup in 2007, Afridi had more or less played on reputation without justifying his place in the Pakistan eleven. During this period he was dropped a few times but always snuck back into the side without ever doing any hard labour in domestic cricket.
Not many people have had a better start to their international careers than Afridi. He scored the fastest ODI century in his first innings and since then, there have been huge expectations on him to score heavily in every game. Since that hundred, Afridi has only managed five more hundreds with a batting average of 23.49 from 325 ODIs.
During this period he has mostly opened the batting and played the majority of his cricket on flat tracks where batting against the new ball is the easiest going. Quality hitters like Sanath Jayasuria and Adam Gilchrist consistently bullied new ball bowlers, but Afridi has never been able to do likewise.
In contrast to his ODI performances, Afridi was quite successful in Tests. He scored five hundreds in 27 appearances at an average of 36.51 including one of the best innings ever played by a Pakistani (141 vs. India at Chennai in 1999). Despite having a decent record at Test level with the bat, and proving to be a handy option with the ball on sub-continent tracks, he was left out of the side too often and retired from Tests in 2006.
Since then Afridi has concentrated on his bowling and has gone on to justify his selection in the Pakistan ODI side as an all rounder. This consistency in his cricket led to him coming out of Test retirement to lead Pakistan against Australia at Lord’s in 2009.
Perhaps that was a mistake by the selectors since he resigned (again) mid way through that series in England. It wasn’t surprising as Afridi has proven time and again that despite having enormous talent, he lacks mental strength – dancing on the pitch, eating the ball, threatening a spectator; all acts that come to mind when thinking of Afridi. Not to mention his habit of playing rash strokes and throwing his wicket away.
Despite having had such a rollercoaster career, Afridi has had his successful moments. He, single handed, won the World T20 in 2009 and was the highest wicket taker at the 2011 World Cup. It’s also hard to find a bigger crowd puller in recent times than Afridi.
However, his latest act of taking conditional retirement because of differences with Pakistan coach, Waqar Younis should have been his final retirement from international cricket. It would have been tough on Afridi fans – I’m one of them – but better for Pakistan cricket, because it cannot have cricketers who think they are bigger than the game; especially ones like Afridi who have achieved too little in their careers.
But as expected, he has been called up for the upcoming ODI series against Sri Lanka. This isn’t a case of weak or bad selection, though. The PCB’s hands are tied by the entrepreneurs in Pakistan who, for some reason, struggle to find any handsome faces in a population of 170 million to sell their products (shampoos, fizzy drinks, insurance policies etc).
Thus they are always backing Shahid Afridi. But if the board’s chairman can be elected based on him being the President’s friend (his only apparent qualification for the role), Boom Boom Afridi deserves another chance to entertain his plethora of fans the world over.
By Omer Ayaz
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You angle it in a way as if he were always anchoring the batting, he has consistently proved and improved his utility as a spin bowler with a strike capability,and in his last performances had mastered his art, he is in his prime, and delivers a talent that is unusual,rare and unbelievably entertaining, his captaincy has for most part done us good in adverse times, he showed good potential to learn from and have a criticial appreication of his decisions. He deserves to be treated a captain first, a celebrity second and must have in any pakistani lineup.
Ziad your memory like most of his fans is very limited and as such you should do abit of home work on his career stats – uptill 2007, he had a very ordinary bowling record where he was used more of a 6th or 7th bowler and was primarily in the line up for his hitting. During his captaincy, he never won anything and that has to do with his temper, u need a cool head on the shoulders to prosper in tough situations on the field where as Afridi is just too emotional at times.
I think Afridi should also do a film now were he plays the hero. The villain could be inzimam. Just a thought…
His captaincyis not open to judgement, he had a short stint marred by insecurity all the same by PCB. Match winner is a one close classfication for him, and his captaincy i wish had a bit more of that, the occasions he went grossly wrong were where he failed to take the expected aggressive positions and decisions while captaining, he played rather safe. Even still, he experimented and used his spin bowlers quite effectively, the batting was half sold out, bowling too. His bowling before 2007, ok, i wouldnt put it ordinary, he was homing in, and maneouvering a break through at important occasions, he could brow beat the batsmen as a spinner.
I can’t wait to see Afridi back in the green of Pakistan. After recent events concerning Pakistan and the sport of cricket, players like Afridi are crucial for both Pakistan and cricket.I have good memories of Afridi, but there is always such great expectancy on his shoulders and he does have a history of under delivery, rather than over delivery. I don’t think he’s the most reliable cricketer out there, but that aspect of his character only adds to the excitement around him. Will he do it today? Or will he lose the plot? You never know with Shahid. I welcome his return to international cricket!
He did it today, Bang Bang. Omer Ayaz heres a little homework, Bang Bang.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/11/11/sri-lanka-bat-in-first-pakistan-odi.html
Rightly pointed out by omer, its all about the mental strength and toughness that counts for a consistent performer. Australians, few years back had that mental strength and it was evident from their performances. These days even their players though skillful are lacking that mental toughness to perform.
Sri lankans are struggling in the same manner.
haha Ziad – yes I know he did it today and that’s good for him and Pakistan – Don’t think you got the message in the article though, it’s ppl like you who have just seen one or two games and thinks he is the best thing after sliced bread…..Wish you had seen Lords test lasy year and Afridi Hastly retirement after the game, than you would understand what I’m trying to say:)
This is fact that Afridi couldnt prove to be a dependable batsman. He cant be relied on in pressure not even in home ground. Being a captain, he needs to work on a few skills including dealing with situation on spot – decision making, change strategies during the game – vision, and manage his and team behaviour – leadership.
A well balanced article. Seems to be written by someone who has been close to the game and well aware of its development over the years and i am a great fan of Shahid Afridi also.
Dear author, please revise your opinions, they seem highly outdated now after the series win. Stand up for the champion.
One must acknowledge that Shahid Afridi has a good track record when it comes to Sri Lanka . I had this gutt feeling that this is his chance to prove his futility, which he did ,but even after that ,it’s a long way to go, and yes this impulsive guy desperately needs a psychatrist, who can cool down his nerves aswell. At aggregate level Shahid Afridi’s performance has been dismal, and the thing which is most perturbing is his unreliability. Anyways his return has given an energy pack to all those cricket fans who had little interest left in the game, and PEPSI which invested alot of money which was doomed with the boom going out.