After Shahid Afridi’s amazing whirlwind beauty of an innings against New Zealand today, I am feeling more upbeat on Shahid Afridi than ever. Rumour has it that others are too and he may be finally named as Pakistan’s team captain for the 2011 ICC World Cup Cricket.
With 22 days left to the tournament, every other team except Pakistan has announced their captain. Not a distinction that one would want. So, the sooner we name a captain, the better. More than anyone else, the team needs to know so that they can wrap their mind around the idea of whoever it is.
The two leading contenders are Misbah-ul-Haq (who leads the Pakistan Test team) and Shahid Afridi (who is leading the Pakistan one-day team). I am rooting for Shahid Afridi despite some real bad behavior from him in the past. Not just because he is the more exciting player, but also because he is more experienced, because he is temperamentally more attuned to the one-day format, but most importantly because he leads aggressively, plays to win, and put all he has in trying to win.
Till a few hours ago I was rather agnostic between the two and could have voted for either of them (Misbah did have a good Test series as captain). But right now I see Shahid Afridi’s innings and attitude today and compare it with Misbah’s batting and strategy in the second Test match against New Zealand (which he let slide), and comparing the two I know exactly who I will go with – Shahid Afridi.
Who would you go with?
I have two comments. One shouldn’t change horses in the middle of the race :) PCB should stick with Afridi.
Second comment is off topic from the post but in the last ODI, Afridi has now become 3rd highest wicket taker for Pak in ODIs. He surpassed Saqlain Mushtaq. Top 10 Pak wicket takers in ODIs now are:
1. Wasim Akram 502 w at 23.52
2. Waqar Younis 416 w at 23.84
3. Shahid Afridi 289 w at 35.27
4. Saqlain Mushtaq 288 w at 21.78
5. Abdul Razzaq 259 w at 31.98
6. Shoaib Akhtar 242 w at 24.69
7. Imran Khan 182 w at 26.61
8. Aaqib Javed 182 w at 31.43
9. Mushtaq Ahmed 161 w at 33.29
10. Shoaib Malik 134 w at 36.29
My instinct says it should be Shahid Afridi. But my intellect says that anyone except him. if we are to win, he is going to be the most important asset for us. I worry that if the pressure of captaincy is also put on him, his performance will suffer. I want him to concentrate most of his own performance rather than on everyone else’s
Media (Fox,CNN) and ATP is so quite about the Lahore incidents…one wonders why?
Common sense dictates that whoever is the captain in this last Pakistan ODI series before World Cup should also be the captain during the WC campaign. Unfortunately, PCB chairperson lacks common sense and rest of the PCB officials lack “guts” to tell him that he is nuts.
Afridi..all the way!!!
I do not care who they name. But we really need to name a captain now. Its a big embarrassment!
Some comments from the ATP Facebook Page:
- “lol what are other choices?? :P”
- “ya is gud but younas better dan him . . . . nd mishba no way.”
- “GOOD”
- “yes after todays performance ( 61 in 19 balls )….he is the right choice.”
- “yes he is the best choice. n good to know that few players r in good touch”
- “Now need to declare the name of the leader afridi is the best choice bcz if change the leader before the world cup its not good for whole team spirit”
AFRIDI IS THE FIRST AND LAST CHOICE FOR THE PAKISTAN , IF THEY WANT TO WIN THE WORLD CUP.