Shahid Afridi is being Shahid Afridi again.
And I say he has every right to be Shahid Afridi. A star this big deserves a few tantrums. And his performance to glory ratio is still a great average. Nor is the “other side” in this case – the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) – a great horde of angels. So, I say, Let Shahid Afridi be Shahid Afridi. Let the man have his tantrum!
As far as I am concerned, he has won the right to have a few nakhras – winning the T20 Championship and giving us a decent World Cup was itself enough to win him that right. The PCB, on the other hand, has no sympathy from me – nothing good has come from them in the longest of times. So, know exactly which side I am on. Let Shahid Afridi be Shahid Afridi. Let the man have his tantrum!
The love-hate relationship this country, and cricket, has with Shahid Afridi is well chronicled in the archives of this very blog. There is a library of ATP posts on Shahid Afridi, and the sentiments range from Owais Mighal singing his praise in “Afridi ke chakkay” to Adil Najam giving him a shouting in “Shame Shame Afridi: Ball-Biting Ain’t Cricket.” The fact is that both posts are correct. Both Shahid Afridis are real. And it is the combination of the two faces of Shahid Afridi that makes up the Shahid Afridi we love – or love to hate!
Afridi soon will come into team with a bang.I think he knows his importance in the team.He is just waiting for the right moment to come which he knows only himself.
Afridi has talent which needs to be channelised
I also think its time for Ijaz Butt to go. The team Pakistan under him has reduced to few geographic areas. while geography or any quota should not be criteria for selection – it is not understandable the selection committee cannot find able-players from outside of few divisions. The degree of polarization that is in current team – I’ve not seen that in atleast 30 years.
That being said, Afridi needs to face the music too for breeching the code of conduct and doing ‘ghar ka bhedi lanka dhaaye’. He should’ve known better what to talk in media and what not.
On the lighter side:
http://www.theunrealtimes.com/2011/06/01/frustrate d-shahid-afridi-to-join-baba-ramdev-in-hunger-stri ke/
Afridi is the most over-rated player ever to play for Pakistan. Actually if it wasn’t for Pakistan, he won’t make it into a National side. He is one (of the many) reason Pakistan cricket is in the shape it is in today. The advent of 20/20 only added to this misery, and disaster that Pakistan cricket is in today. His stats only speak for themselves. When was the last time Afridi won a cricket game (of any significance) for Pakistan based on his batting. And he kept trying to distort the batting order whenever given the chance, leading to a very insecure batting line.
I even blame Afridi as the reason a Great player like Mohammad Yousuf was kicked out of the side – only after scoring over 1700 runs in a calendar year in test cricket. He was absolutely the foundation on which Pakistan batting should have been built, let it be test cricket, one day cricket or even 20/20. And we wasted that absolute talent and opportunity within the last few years because of the an incompetent board and because of players like Afridi. Now afridi is getting a taste of his own medicine -well deserved!