Shahid Afridi: An icon who will be missed at the highest level by Pakistan fans

The World T20 2016 in India turned out to be a forgettable tournament for Pakistan. Having lost 3 matches in the group stages, the team failed to qualify for the semis and took an early flight home. After the match against Australia, their talismanic skipper Shahid Afridi stated that he will make an announcement about his international retirement in a few days time in his country. Afridi has given enough indications in the past that this tourney would be his last in Pakistan colors and it seems highly improbable that he will change his decision.

Without a doubt, Afridi is considered a national icon all over Pakistan. No batsman gets a louder roar from the crowd as he does while walking from the dressing room to the pitch. He has managed to garner the love and adoration of millions of his countrymen and women and probably will retain it long after he retires. A look at his record though suggests that the mercurial cricketer has underachieved and sometimes made headlines for the wrong reasons in his long career.

Afridi played 398 ODIs and made 8064 runs at an ordinary average of 23.57 including 6 tons and 39 fifties. Most of these runs were scored in the initial part of his career as his consistency with the bat suffered remarkably in the latter half. If one were to try and play a slideshow of Afridi’s batting innings, the most common image is that of a ball skied straight up in the air, only to fall into the hands an opposition fielder.

While one can understand that a number of these dismissals might have been under pressure where quick runs and risks were required, but the majority is due to other reasons. Too often, in times when Pakistan needed less than a run a ball while chasing, Afridi came to the crease and slogged himself out, puzzling everybody. From a senior player like him, one would have expected a better and more mature batting. He has had a very eventful career but it should be remembered that he was the slowest batsman to reach the 8000-runs milestone.

He made headlines in January 2010 in Australia when he was captaining Pakistan – due to the absence of Mohammad Yousuf – in the match against Australia in Perth during the Commonwealth Bank ODI series. Afridi was confronted by on-field umpires after the TV umpire had spotted something amiss and the match ball was changed. Immediately after the game, Afridi was called into a hearing with the match referee and pleaded guilty for biting the ball twice. In later public comments, Afridi admitted to tampering the ball saying, “I shouldn’t have done it. It just happened. I was trying to help my bowlers and team win a match, one match.”

Afridi sinking his teeth into the cricket ball was seen by everyone on television and made for a disgusting sight. He had once again sent a negative message to millions of young admirers. He also made some unnecessary comments about India after the 2011 World Cup and created another storm after returning to the said country for the 2016 World T20.

In 2010, Afridi announced his retirement from Test cricket (not for the first time) citing a lack of temperament for the longer format of the game. It brought an end to a Test career that lasted just 27 matches producing 1716 runs at an average of 36.51 including 5 tons and 8 fifties. He took 58 wickets at 35.60 with the best of 5/52.

Afridi is the most capped player as well as the highest wicket taker in T20 internationals. His 98 matches produced 1405 runs at an average of 18.01 including 4 fifties and the top score of 54 not out. He has taken 97 wickets at 24.35 with the best of 4/11. His economy rate is impressive being 6.61 considering the nature of flat pitches generally on offer in the shortest format.

Some of his memorable knocks include his first international innings when he broke the then record for fastest century in ODI cricket, reaching his hundred from 37 balls. The eleven sixes he struck also equaled the then record for most in an ODI innings. Aged 16 years and 217 days, Afridi became the youngest player to score an ODI century. Out of the seven fastest ODI centuries of all time, Afridi has produced three of them. He has thrice scored a half-century off 18 balls which remains a joint third fastest ever.

Despite all the lows, Shahid Khan Afridi has enjoyed more love from Pakistani supporters than any other player. This is because for every 10 poor performances, Afridi manages to give a sensational one, and that seems to balance out everything. Where he has failed with the bat, he has performed in the field and with the ball. Forever associated with him will be his madcap batting, the prospect of which is a crowd-puller the world over.