Why Afridi continues to play
The memes, the posters and the profile display pictures are no more. No longer does he inspire remixes nor are his exploits celebrated in his mother tongue. Barely eighteen months on from being celebrated as the reincarnation of Jinnah, Shahid Afridi is being dragged down from the pedestal he was put upon – it is pertinent to note that he was hoisted onto that pedestal by the same nation who is now determined to bring him down. Afridi’s presence in the national team has divided the spectators with the loudest and the most extremist viewpoints being presented as the two truths. His supporters claim that he is the best thing since the helmet grill, and is never at fault for a loss. His detractors complain about sixteen years of false promises and keeping his betters out of the team using his influence in the dressing room and the media. His retirement is asked for by many – as if that has ever solved anything (and we’ve had plenty of those anyway). Surely, there must be another truth – one that lies somewhere in between. But like any, and every, issue (and non-issue) in Pakistan, the middle-ground-truth seems hard to establish.
The first – and most obvious – mistake that Pakistanis on either side make is to assume that Afridi is a batsman of any repute. Much like the England football team, the discussion about Afridi’s batting consists of undeserved hype, outrageously high expectations and references from the distant past. For pundits employed to sell the match as a product, over-hyping Afridi makes sense. But it is senseless for fans accustomed to his ever-increasing collection of failures to raise their hopes every time he takes guard. He averages under 20 with the bat in ODIs over the last two years – certainly not the record of a messiah. A lot of great – and not that great – sportsmen overestimate their abilities once their bodies begin to creak and their reflexes begin to slow. But the fans have no need to be slaves to the delusions of an ego. It is unreasonable to expect him to succeed with his record and ability being so apparently flawed.
But that doesn’t mean that he should be forced to retire. If we were to consider him purely a bowler, there is a pretty strong case for him being part of the national squad. Perhaps the worst – and the best – thing to happen to Afridi in his career was THAT century in Nairobi. That innings has skewed expectations and perceptions so much so that a pretty decent career with the ball is overlooked.
Over a five-year period from the start of 2007 till the end of last year he took 140 wickets in ODIs – no spinner anywhere in the world had more – at an average under 30 and economy rate of 4.5. By modern standard that is a record of a stalwart. Furthermore, he is the 2nd highest wicket-taker in the short history of T20Internationals. And this is all before considering the “intangibles” he has provided. While he may not be the messiah, he – along with Waqar and Misbah – did resurrect the national team from the depths of Summer 2010. There’s a reason that his interpretation of the Vitruvian Man is now part of Pakistani folklore.
But there’s a caveat to all of this. The numbers given above are mostly down to his record in the five years before 2012. This year he has taken 15 wickets in 16 ODIs at an average above 40, and has had his worst year with the bat since 2006. Despite this he has only missed one of Pakistan’s 17 ODIs.
And therein lies the problem with the Pakistan setup. Pakistan’s inability to rotate has led to a culture where there are untouchables within the playing XI. Our lot complain of bench strength, even when promising young players like Hammad Alam and Fawad Alam are never given an extended run to flourish. It took two years before Raza Hasan was given a look-in: he was part of the squad for the tour of England in 2010, but only made his debut last month. It is this inability to rotate – borne out of short-termism – that has led to Pakistan having to call up tried-and-tested failures again and again. There is a middle ground between calling for Afridi’s head and putting it up on a spike; that is to ask for the XI to be chosen on form. Not really that difficult a concept to grasp.
But is it really the fault of the management? Or are they afraid of reprisals? After all, every series – nay, every match – that Pakistan plays is given overwhelming importance by the public, be it an actual big match (like the World T20) or not (like the summer ODI series against Sri Lanka). There’s a reason Afridi continues to play every match, it’s because a majority of Pakistanis continue to back him even as he struggles for fitness and form.
The writer is a sports nerd, and does not believe that opinions other than his own are valid. He can be found presenting his opinions as fact on his blog.
The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.
undue public support. in my opinion, he should have been taken off the team at least 4-5 years ago.
i am agree with the writer .he is a bowling alrounder rather than a betting and he did well when ever, he called for bowling .not the rite tym to retire give hm a chance atleast ppl
While Afridi didnt perform to win the Semi against Sri Lanka, where was the rest of the team…Gone asleep (after Afridi took that crucial wicket…!)…You think only Afridi matter to retire..As a nation we did it to Waseem Akram and now we forgot that blunder and cherish him…What a whimsickle nation we could be..
Without living in the past, please be realistic. Age has caught up with him. Time to induct fresh blood and move on.
Cheema, why do you have a problem with him playing? what about others such as Malik, Misbah there is a long list… Afridi still on his bowling form can make it to any side in the world. He is going through a bad patch, with the bad, but rest assured every cricketer goes through that in his career. I earnestly believe it was wrong to sack afridi after the world cup and most of my compatriot Pakistanis would still agree with me.
Let’s get the emotions out of the the team selection. Lets statistics decide the team selection. If things don’t work out then blame the statistics. It is very simple that let the performance translate into numbers and number should decide selection of demotion. This is the only way you can stop the dead wood getting in from back door and also this is the best way to curb nepotism. J
please let AFRADI AND RAZAQUE play for the next 3 years. and shut up for the comment. let them play cricket.
Shahid Khan Afridi has a lot of backing from the Pakistani Public.
I tend to agree with the writer.Afridi is a batsman of fluke trying to hit every ball out of the ground without treating the ball on merit so that he can get the crowd going. He plays for himself and not for the team specially as a batsman but as a bowler he plays for the team and not for himself, so he can be taken in the team as a bowler who can bat once in a while.Yes it is a point to ponder as to why the careers of Hammad and Fawwad have been curtailed.
You got it wrong. Its a player decision to retire or stop playing a stop. However its the responsibility of selectors and management to drop a player. Unfortunately, our selectors do not have guts to make the right decision. Look at Tendulkar, he wants to play despite his poor form, if Tendulkar would have an Australian, he would have dropped by selectors a long time ago. Look at Ponting, he wanted to play ODI, but Australian selectors dropped him. I believe Afridi can play at least 2 more years a a bowler. He is not a batsmen and I dont think he was ever a batsmen. He used to play a good inning one out of every 15.
Salams,
Very nice article indeed and I would like to add that every cricketer suffer a slump of form in their careers which is why it is said ” Class is permanent whereas form is temporary ”
Shahid Afridi did a fantastic job as a captain during the world cup and was wrongly made to quit by Ijaz Butt. It seems that psychological impact of playing under leadership of inconsistent Mohamed Hafiz (who in all fairness does not deserve regular place in any format) is troubling boom boom but lets hops that he comes out of it sooner before its too late.
As for selecting and backing youngsters is concerned, we have double standards in Pakistan. While the Akmal brothers seems to have some sort of royal decree to get selected after repeated failures, other cricketers like Fawad Alam, Asad Shafiq, Mohamed Irfan, Hammad Azam, Rahat Ali etc are ignored as untouchables.
After watching convicted salman but and mohamed amir as experts on reputable tv channerls in Pakistan, one can say that betting surely has future in pakistan cricket.
Regards,
Hyder
We Pakistanis love the word “sack”. The fact that he has been in the team for 17 years proves a lot of his worth. You can’t remain in a highly talented team like Pakistan for 17 years, if you are not a good player. Yes he has had bad tournament. Now we need to support him. Or at least let him make his own decision when to retire. Just before this tournament, everyone wanted to sack Umar Akmal. We have always wanted to sack Misbah. We want to sack Umar Gul, Imran Nazir, Shoaib Malik, Abdul Razzaq as well. That’s what we love to do !!
Why do people keep on talking about Hammad. Has any body looked at his averages – they are pretty average.
Highly talented? he has been pathetic for last few years. It is better he retires with grace or is thrown out. What has he done to deserve a place in the team? For last 17 years his batting is pathetic. He has not yet learned how to bat for last 17 years.
what can I say, he himself clarified that I am going through bad patch, it is normal thing in cricket, there are many great players, legends who have been through bad patch for quite lengthy duration of time, but they have come out of it, I know that Afridi has been generally inconsistent player, but since last 5 years or so he has become consistent with the bowl and improved a bit with the batting, has added good energy to them team through all those off field difficult times that Pak team had, they have lost some key players before major tournaments, yet they have performed extremely well under the captaincy of Afridi, his overall influnce on the team has been very good, he has been a fighter who is currently working hard on improving his game and getting out of the bad patch, but we need to show some patience, and should not lose a great asset like Afridi in irritation, his achievements are outstanding far more worthy than this kind of treatement that has been given by fans, we need to calm down flash bank at his performances that won Pakistan T20 Worldcup in 2009, and has single handed won kind of matches for Pak that everone thought were virtually lost.