Remembering The Shahid Khan Afridi!

The game of cricket has been bestowed with many greats and legends, everyone was of his own kind but common characteristic of them all was their shear class and their unwavering belief. They cemented their place in the history books in such a way that even after years of their absence, still their presence can be felt.
Sahabzada Shahid Khan Afridi is a very obvious and certain name that matches the above mentioned characteristics. In a career of almost 20 years Shahid Afridi name has always been the synonym of aggression and destruction. He has served his country for almost two decades but one thing that was not existed before Afridi and will never exist again is the aura and presence of Afridi on the pitch. Many greats have embraced the cricket field but nobody in the past had that thing and no one in the future will ever be able to have it.
A month ago PCB gave him a farewell for his memorable contribution to Pakistan Cricket so I’m writing this in remembrance of a man who has always been the one to believe in and the one to hope for. But the primary purpose of writing this is to highlight ‘Who actually was Afridi?’
Many of the sports critics will disagree to my opinion of Shahid Afridi being one of the all times greats and they are right in saying the opposite as statistical analysis of Afridi’s career doesn’t suggest much but it represents Afridi as an ‘over-rated’, ‘over-hyped’, B class player and that’s where all got it wrong.
Afridi debuted back in 1996 and he was first included in the team as a ‘genuine’ leg-spinner. He also had the reputation of a ‘Big-hitter’ of the ball but it wasn’t very well known until he scored the fastest century in ODI in his second ODI. Most of the people see this record of Afridi as a reason for his never-ending and ever-growing popularity but for me this fastest century have changed Afridi’s career in the worst possible manner. After seeing his breathe-taking performance of 100* on just 37 balls most of the seniors in the team suggested that Afridi must open the inning. Although his strength was bowling but his powerful hitting won him the status of a batsman. It was short-sightedness of the seniors for which ultimately Afridi had to pay. He was a good leg-spinner, one for the future but he was never been a good batsman, especially not the one to open the inning or bat as top order batsman. And eventually he failed to deliver in his batsman role and because of very little use of his leg-spin, his leg-spin ability also faded away.
Misuse of his abilities wasted 6 to 7 years of his career. After not being able to deliver as a batsman and as a part time leg spinner, they thought of using him as an all-rounder and Afridi failed in that aspect as well. Again for 5 to 6 years, nothing special came out of him and both Afridi and the system were responsible for that. Our cricket board and coaches of Pakistan team just couldn’t make best use of him. First ten years of Afridi career were more of a disappointment than of a success. A leg-spinner? An opener or a genuine all-rounder? Afridi remained mystery.
A decade of failure and frustration but Afridi didn’t give up. He struggled and staggered but he never stopped. He kept working hard and eventually it paid off. Afridi turned all of his attentions to his bowling and put batting aside.
2007 World t20 was the turning point as he emerged as a very fine leg-spin bowler and took the most number of wickets in the tournament. It proved to be a stimulus for him as he again started bowling his full qota of overs and he were in the wickets again.
One of the most memorable or you may call it remarkable performances of Afridi came in 2009 World t20. Afridi bat was quite in the whole tournament and he was not delivering with the ball as well but equally good and historic performances from him in the Semi-final and Final of the World Cup single-handedly won Pakistan their only World Cup in 17 years.
Now here is my point, ‘how many cricketers have won their nation the World Cup?’, even the very likes of Brian Lara, Jacques Kallis and many others have failed to do so but Shahid Afridi all by himself took his nation to the glory and it is one of the very obvious reason to name him as one of the best; his match winning ability.
Afridi continued his magic with the ball and in 2011 World Cup he took a mammoth total of 21 wickets and led Pakistan to the Semi-final of the event. And this is what an ‘ordinary’ and an ‘average’ player can’t do.
The span of time from 2007-2011 was the best part of his career. He was brilliant with the ball and little cameos with the bat were enough to do the damage to the opponents. He captained his side and cemented his place as a great leader as well. After the world cup conflicts with the chairman of the board compelled him to part ways with cricket and ultimately it damaged him as he lost the momentum.
After solving his disputes with the Board, Afridi returned to international cricket and it was quite a comeback. With the passage of time things became difficult for him as he struggled again. But Afridi again showed his character and with the nerves that of steel he almost won Pakistan the Asia Cup in 2014. But again after small period of ‘happiness’ things went the wrong way.
Afridi was named captain of Pakistani side for the World Cup 2015 and both his individual performance and his captaincy let Pakistan down. Almost same script was repeated as green shirts dumped out of World t20 in 2016 under his leadership. Yes! He was equally responsible for poor display in the both World Cups but here is the thing, Afridi couldn’t deliver and all of us completely forgot what he has done for his side in the past, what about the 43 Man of the Match awards he won for his country and these 43 MOM awards speak volumes for what kind of ‘Match-Winner’ he was! Afridi let us down many times but he never stayed down, he stood up after every fall and this is what makes him the very Best!
In short, Afridi is mystery of the kind that you can’t solve but in your efforts to solve it, you’ll come to know new aspects of it, you’ll explore something new about it and in one way or another you will eventually enjoy it. Who was he? A bowler? A batsman? Or an All-rounder? We couldn’t understand but whatever he was, he was the only one of his kind. In future, we may witness the very best players besting the art of cricket but one thing is for sure, our eyes will never ever witness anything like Shahid Khan Afridi again!
Thank You!
BOOM BOOM!