Should Afridi Retire?
Its more than 16 years now when a storm hit Gymkhana Club Ground, Nairobi, time is so
old than even one day cricket was being played in all whites occasionally. A 16
years old rookie in all whites without a helmet was sent in as pinch hitter but
who could have imagined that a pinch hitter will put record books holders in
quite a bit of extra work. Soon after his entry Nairobi saw a rain, a rain of
cricket balls. There was sixes and there were plenty of them. 100 runs in 37
balls against a bowling attack including Muralitharan,
Vaas and Dharmasena, Pundits said
that Pakistan’s Jayasuriya has announced himself,
but soon they changed their statements to “Of Sahibzada Mohammad Shahid Khan
Afridi it can safely be said that cricket never has and never will see
another like him”.
Years have passed by; there is no one day cricket in all
whites anymore, 16 years old rookie is now 32 years old Expert mode
enemy for any rookie that comes in the game. After that storm in Nairobi, he
himself has said quite a few times that he is a specialist bowler who can bat “a
bit” but his actions time and again have put his statement under scrutiny. That’s
why every time he comes in with a bat, crowd expect every ball to meet them in
stands and when he tries and fails to do that crowd suddenly questions his
irresponsible attitude in batting. An average of 35 run and strike rate of 80
could have made Afridi a great all-rounder but it definitely wouldn’t have made
him “Boom Boom”. Cricket has seen many great all-rounders but it hasn’t seen a “Boom
Boom” and that’s what crowd wants him to be a “Boom Boom” not an all-rounder. So
then what’s the point of criticizing his style of play when he has made all of
us go wild with same style? This shows the weirdness in Pakistan Cricket fans.
There are two types of Pakistan Cricket fans, first are the
fans that follow each match each bowl and second are seasonal birds that come
to watch cricket when Pakistan Plays in a world tournament, and when these
seasonal birds asks The Afridi to quit international cricket after one bad
tournament, it’s simply criminal. In his last T20 international he played
before the World T20 started he scored 50 and took two wickets and won the
match single handedly for Pakistan against Sri Lanka and helped them to square
the series. Seasonal birds won’t know that but a true fan would. Even for the
seasonal birds “The Afridi” was leading wicket taker and last world tournament
and captained a team of turkeys and made them Tigers and reached semi finals. So
judging a player and a player as miraculous as Afridi on 6 matches, well then
May God helps you.
History tells us that when we respect a hero we get another
in reward, We respected Fazal Mehmood, we got Imran Khan, we respected Imran
Khan we got Wasim and Waqar, we respected Wasim and Waqar we got Shoaib Akhtar,
we respected Shoaib Akhtar we got Umar Gul, we respected Hanif Muhammad we got Zaheer
Abbas, we respected Zaheer Abbas we got Inzmam-ul-Haq, we respected Inzmam-ul-Haq
we got Umar Akmal, we respected Abdul Qadir we got Mushtaq Ahmed, we respected
Mushtaq Ahmed we got Saqlain Mushtaq, we respected Saqlain Mushtaq we got Saeed
Ajmal, but whom we respected and we got Shahid Afridi? Yes, he is a gift from
God, and if we respect him we may get another one, and if we disrespect him we
may end up agreeing with the man who said “Of Sahibzada Mohammad Shahid Khan
Afridi it can safely be said that cricket never has and never will see
another like him”.
16 years of cricket may be are enough, so should he quit? Answer
is no. Not like this. Not on his low, he is loin, and loins never run and I’m
sure he won’t either. Not before world of cricket sees another storm hitting a
cricket ground like Gymkhana Club
Ground, Nairobi did 16 years ago.
