Shahid Afridi, The Cricket Icon of Pakistan

By Jawad Hussain

Former Pakistani captain Shahid Khan Afridi is the world’s most dangerous cricketer if you’re on the opposing side as he has the ability to turn the tables on his head and change the whole complexion of the game within a few overs whether he has bat in his hands or the ball.

Shahid Khan Afridi is arguably the most popular cricketer in the history of Pakistan and supersedes the likes of Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, and Waqar Younis as the youth has a special liking for him and anything that is associated with Shahid Afridi becomes a trend in the country.

Due to his sheer ability to produce unbelievable cricketing moments and strong media presence, he has become a Cricket Icon in Pakistan and nobody can deny the fact that he is the blue-eyed son of multi-national companies in the country which only want Lala in their products’ advertisements.

Sometimes you will see him selling shampoo product and some other time biscuits and lots of other products but fans love him the most when he has bat or ball in his hands right in the middle of the ground where he always exhibit his true color.

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HIGHLIGHTS OF GLITTERING CAREER

٠ Fastest Century in the World – 100 (37)
٠ Youngest Player ever to score a Century – 16 yr. 217 days
٠ Most Sixes in ODI ever by any individual – 298
٠ 2nd Fastest Fifty twice – 50 (18)
٠ 2nd most runs scored in an over – 4,4,6,6,6,6
٠ Best Bowling Figures by a Captain in World Cups – 5/16
 
And the list goes on…

These records make us proud, When Chris H. Gayle scores 100 of 45 balls, When Virat Kholi score centuries in such young age, When Mike Hussy rain sixes or When Sehwag scores a quick fifty. They are not yet able to register their names above Shahid Afridi.

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The charisma of Shahid Afridi is such that whenever he comes to the crease, a huge chunk of fans or the spectators fill the stadiums like anything and as soon as he gets out the stadium looks deserted. Fans purchase expensive tickets only to see Boom Boom Afridi hitting the ball out of the park.

In recent years, Shahid Afridi has made a phenomenal reputation as an orthodox leg-spin bowler and was among the top bowlers in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 hosted by India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh where Pakistan finished among the top teams after losing to India in the Semi-Final match in Mohali.

Shahid Afridi also captained Pakistan cricket team for quite some time and led them in 2010 ICC World Twenty20 played in West Indies and ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. On both occasions, Pakistan lost in the semi-finals which shows he has some captaincy capabilities.

As no man is perfect in this world, Shahid Afridi is also a human being and does have some frailties. His brand of captaincy was not dear to many cricket fans across the globe but his fans still back him for captaining Pakistan in the upcoming 2012 ICC World Twenty20 to be held in Sri Lanka in September this year.

Shahid Afridi started his career as a leg-spin bowler but Rameez Raja found him a hard-hitting batsman in nets during Pakistan’s tour to South Africa and Kenya and gave him the chance to exhibit his batting skills in company of legendary Saeed Anwar in a must-win match against Sri Lanka in Nairobi in 1996.

Nobody knew what was coming their way. Shahid Afridi heralded his arrival at international level with a flurry of fours and sixes and struck the fastest hundred in One Day Internationals from just 37 balls. His record is still intact even after 16 years and despite of greatest hitters in the game, i.e. Chris Gayle, Kevin Pietersen, Suresh Raina, and David Warner, it’s a matter of great pride for any Pakistani that Shahid Afridi’s record still lives.

After his historic fastest hundred, he got the permanent task of opening the innings mostly with Saeed Anwar and sometimes with Rameez Raja and he made an exclusive reputation as an opening batsman during the late 90s and early 2000s as he became a menace for the opposition bowlers. If you take a look at the highlights of the matches played in that era, you can easily see how delighted the opposition used to become after claiming scalp of Shahid Afridi. It tells the whole story how dangerous Afridi had become for the world’s top bowlers.

Shahid Afridi also excelled in Test cricket and struck a gritty hundred against India in their backyard to help Pakistan defeat the home team. During the course of his short Test career, Afridi also showed his bowling skills beautifully, claiming five wickets against England. However, as we all know Test cricket was never the format which Shahid Afridi loved and he soon announced his retirement from the format.

During later part of his career, he was made to come out of Test cricket retirement during England tour when Pakistan was facing dire consequences after the then captain Salman Butt along with key pacemen Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were banned by the International Cricket Council for their involvement in the scourge of spot fixing.

Shahid Afridi had a huge burden on his shoulders to deliver the goods for Pakistan and he tried his best to lead a tattering team in the Test format but his inability to stop himself from taking aerial routes forced him to announce retirement yet again and he set all his focus on limited overs cricket.

After taking a weaker Pakistani team into the last-four of the ICC World Cup 2011, Shahid Afridi became victim of Waqar Younis’s hatred and Pakistan Cricket Board’s mismanagement as he was made to tender his resignation as Pakistan skipper after Pakistan tour to West Indies in 2011.

People started saying his cricket has ended now and he will not be able to produce the goods for the team, but Shahid Afridi, who single-handedly took Pakistan to victory in the 2009 ICC World Twenty20, showed strong character as he once again proved his worth for the national cricket team by undoing Sri Lanka in the 2011 series played in United Arab Emirates.

Since then, Shahid Afridi has once against established himself as the essential part of the Pakistan cricket team but due to some unknown reasons, the PCB authorities do not trust him with captaincy in the shortest format as despite of consistent good performances and establishing a great reputation he will have to play the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 under Mohammad Hafeez.

However, we all know that Shahid Afridi is a team-man and will deliver his best for the country whether he plays as captain or as player and the upcoming T20 World Cup would be an important even for the star all-rounder as if he keeps delivering the goods for Pakistan then the team has the ability to finish among the top four teams of the competition.

Shahid Afridi is a reason of pride for Pakistanis and recently he was praised by none other than Bill Gates, the owner of Microsoft, who made a post on his facebook page regarding the Pakistani cricketer’s valiant effort against polio.

Bill Gates wrote, “Great to have support of leading Pakistani wicket taker Shahid Afridi, who recently joined Rotary’s “This Close” campaign to support the fight to end polio.”