Pathan of Pakistan

A career in perspective: Boom Boom Afridi

Shahid Afridi epitomizes Pakistan cricket perfectly at the moment; talented, exciting, promising, yet disappointing. He is immensely talented but has not lived up to his potential over the years. He is a matchless character and an exciting phenomenon in the cricketing world. It is often said: “There can be only one Afridi.”

When he bats he does not use his brain. People say this is because he is a Pathan. But Imran Khan was a Pathan too. Younis Khan is another Pathan who plays with responsibility, unlike Afridi who seldom does.

Like most Pakistani cricket gems, Afridi too burst onto the scene out of nowhere. Another fact which makes him a special case is that no one, even he himself, knows whether he is a bowling all-rounder or a batsman who can bowl. He declares himself a mediocre player, but ask the opposition captains, they will say how he makes them look baffled most of the time.

He is not a classical leg-spinner; neither is he a proper batsman.

Afridi the bowler

Afridi is a leg spinner, but bowls with a mind of a fast bowler. He has a good leg-break which slips more than it turns. He can impart enough revolutions on the ball to give it a tweak so that he could deceive the batsman with drift in the air, especially when he is in good bowling form. His googly is not as lethal as, say, Mushtaq’s was, but it is an important weapon for him. The most lethal and wicket-taking delivery that he bowls is the flipper, which skids after pitching and like Anil Kumble’s lethal flipper, gets the batsman bowled or LBW as they are lured into a cut shot.

On top of all, he has a faster one which he bowls at 115-120 kph without changing his action, but running in slightly faster. He can bowl seem-up deliveries too with the same run-up at about 130 kph - Remember Greg Blewett - or even off spinners when he is in a mood to enjoy.

He has been labeled as a one-day bowler and he himself thinks on the same lines of late. This is not because he lacks wicket taking ability, but he lacks in temperament. He wants immediate results, like his batting, but in Test matches a spinner needs to be patient and expectant. You have to wait for success before you are on top of the conditions and the batsmen. He has bowled some good spells in tests and has a reasonable record.

Afridi the batsman

As a batsman he is either exiting as a Hollywood thriller or as horrible as a Lollywood action flop. He either jolts the opposition or breaks the hearts of his fans. Interestingly both captains, his own and the opposing team’s, are on their toes when Afridi is batting. And invariably, he makes one of them burst into jubilation and relief according to the outcome of his stay at the crease.

When he is in full flow, his batting is a joy to watch. He can murder any attack. He can overcome any situation. The conditions, the pitch and the type of bowling do not matter much if Afridi is on song. No boundary is large enough for him. Like a kid, he wants to take all the candies himself and then wants to eat them in one go. If he succeeds, he scripts fairy tales. If he fails, obituaries are written all over.

The way he bats, he doesn’t need any flaw in his batting technique to fail, he fails himself. On the other hand, he has many attributes in his batting which make him one of the most exiting and dangerous batsmen around. Afridi the batsman is matchless. He can play like a beast and do a Viv Richards like he did when he scored his first ever ODI century. He can bat like a roller-coaster ride and do a Sehwag - Chennai test match hundred. He can take responsibility too and lead his team to outstanding victories like Inzamam as in WorldT20 in England in 2009.

Afridi the Captain

Despite being one of the senior most players, Afridi has waited for his turn to captain Pakistan for a number of years. He longed for the job only to be handed over in 2009 after he had won Pakistan the World T20 with back-to-back man of the match awards in the semi-final and the final. He was given the reigns of the ODI team in 2010 before the Asia Cup. His record as the captain has been a mixed one, as he has not proved to be tactically astute captain. But to his credit he has managed to gel the players together and carried the team admirably out of the quagmire created by the spot-fixing saga and other controversies.

Afridi was appointed captain for all three formats in May 2010, after he showed his willingness to play Test cricket again. He captained Pakistan in the first Test at Lord's against Australia, but after failure with bat, he announced retirement from Tests again giving lack of temperament for Test cricket as the reason. It was an emotional decision which was widely criticized.

He led his team well to reach semi-final of World T20 in 2010 and after narrowly losing ODI series against England and South Africa, he won against New Zealand Down Under 3-2. No one gave Pakistan any hope in the 50-over World Cup which was held recently in the subcontinent, but Pakistan surprised all by first topping their group and then qualifying for the semi-final. Although they lost a winnable match to India at Mohali, Afridi and his men came back with their heads held high.

In the semi-final against India, he made a few blunders as first he was too defensive in the field and then he failed to take the batting powerplay at a suitable time which cost Pakistan the match. It is hoped that with induction of new blood and passage of time, Afridi will grow in confidence and will be able to form a good team capable of reaching at the top in the limited overs version of the game.

Afridi the persona

Wasim Akram says: “I’ve been saying this for more than 21 years to Afridi. He has to learn.” He was referring to the irresponsible shot Afridi played to get out against Australia in a WC game. You have to live with Afridi whatever he is. He cannot be taught, captained or tamed. But he thrives when given a responsibility. Now as a captain, he will do things according to his style and will invariably succeed without the pressure of persuasion.

He cannot control his nature. No one can. After the semi-final loss, he won Indian hearts by saying warm words, but just after a few days he could not resist himself and disappointed everyone by talking loosely. He has a child-like mind, but a heart of a lion. He does not hate any one, but he is a fierce competitor. Whatever he says, he means nothing. You got to love the man.

Glimpse at the career

Sahibzada Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi was born on March 1, 1980 in the tribal area of Khyber Agency. He moved to Karachi with his parents where he started playing his cricket. At the tender age of 16 years, he was summoned to Kenya during a four-nation tournament in 1996–97 as a leg spinner to replace the injured Mushtaq Ahmed. In his second match, he scored the fastest ever ODI century off just 37 balls with a record 11 sixes against Sri Lanka as he was asked to bat at number 3 as a pinch-hitter. He was also the youngest to score an ODI hundred at that time.

From that moment on, he was expected to bat in the same mode. He used to play according to the wishes of his fans. He was not able to restrain himself from playing aggressively, without trying to build an innings. As a result he never came out of the shadow of his very first knock at international level. This fact greatly affected his career as his bowling abilities were ignored, despite his below par performances with the bat.

After 66 ODIs, he was given test cap in Karachi against Australia in 1998 where he failed with the bat as opener, but took 5 wickets in the first innings. In his next tour in India in 1999, he stroked a breathtaking century in the first test at Chennai. With the passage of time, he improved his bowling and had good results in all forms of the game. His batting too flourished and he played good hands in both tests and ODIs.

Leicestershire gave him a contract in 2001 and he did reasonably well for them in county circuit. He scored his second test century in Sharjah when Pakistan played against West Indies on neutral venue. His tour to India again in 2005-6 was a successful one in which he did well in the third test match where he scored a fifty and took 5 wickets in series-drawing win in Bangalore. He dismissed Tendulkar in both innings of the match. He scored joint-second fastest hundred in ODIs in 45 balls at Kanpur to destroy Indian bowling to win the ODI series 4-2. After this game, the prefix ‘Boom Boom’ stuck to his name permanently.

Under Bob Woolmer, Afridi was at his peak in both tests and ODIs as he scored and took wickets during the tours to India, West Indies and against England. Afridi played ten Tests during the period from January 2005 to March 2006, averaging 47.44 with the bat including three centuries. He was banned for a Test match and two ODIs for damaging the pitch with his boots during second Test at Faisalabad. In April 2006, he announced temporary break from test cricket to give time to his family and boost his ODI career, but came back for a short while to play two Tests in England in July before disappearing again.

He missed Pakistan’s first two WC 2007 matches, as he was banned for 4 ODIs in a series prior to the world cup when he thrust his bat at a spectator who swore at him after he was dismissed. In the World T20, he was named the Man of the tournament due to his brilliant bowling efforts. He was not so successful in the inaugural edition of Indian Premier League in 2008, where he played for Deccan Chargers. He impressed in the next world T20 in England in 2009 and helped Pakistan win the title.

After being nominated for T20 captaincy, he also captained in the 5th ODI against Australia in the absence of Mohammad Yousuf on 31 January 2010. Afridi was banned from two Twenty20 internationals after being caught on camera biting into the ball during the match. It was embarrassment of sorts for him as well as his fans as being a captain his act was despicable and raised questions about his suitability as a captain. But he was appointed ODI captain for the Asia Cup in which he top-scored with two hundreds.

After his retirement from Test cricket in May 2010, he focused his energies to build a team for the World Cup 2011 where he led his team to semi-final exit against India. He failed with the bat, but bowled brilliantly becoming the joint leading wicket-taker with 21 scalps.

In 27 Test matches, he has scored over 1700 runs with a healthy average of 36.51 including 5 centuries, apart from taking 48 wickets at 35.60. His ODI record shows that he is better bowler than batsman. In 320 matches, he has scored 6667 runs at 23.64 with 6 hundreds and 31 fifties at a spectacular strike rate of 114. He has taken 313 wickets at 3.90. He is the first bowler to take 50 wickets in T20s.

Man on a mission

With him taking over as the skipper of Pakistan team, there is a hope for a new dawn in Pakistan cricket. Imran Khan has urged him to come out of Test retirement as well and take over the Test captaincy as there is no suitable candidate for the job in the near future. If he does that, he should be appointed long-term captain and given enough powers to put Pakistan cricket back on track. But if he restricts himself to limited overs form of the game only, he should be asked to continue till the next World Cup and build a strong team in the process.

Shahid Afridi is a unique character as he has suddenly become the voice of Pakistan cricket after 15 years of a fragile career typified by under-achievement. He can disappoint and fail Pakistan, but the signs are that he is the man to take Pakistan back to its past glory. Believe me Pakistan’s revival depends on his shoulders.