5 4 5 - if you were wondering whether those are the first 3 digits of my debit card pin, you are indeed wrong! That my friend, are the number of wickets the Pakistani captain Shahid Afridi has taken in the first 3 games of the World Cup (serially). Some people thrive under pressure and Afridi is definitely one of them. History tells you that to captain a Pakistan cricket team really well and more importantly win games , you need a strong individual who commands the respect of the team. Right from Zaheer Abbas ( who the Indians, including Gavaskar referred to as Zaheer Ab Bas coz' of the plethora of runs he used to score against India) to the legendary World Cup winning captain Imran Khan to the Sultan of Swing Wasim Akram, Pakistan has been blessed with certain individuals who had the ability to fire up an entire team and their massive crowd base with superlative, leading from the front performances. To this list, I would add this year's World Cup captain Sahibzada Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi.
A bit of history about this man. He burst onto the scene as a 16 year old (though some say he was 19), in the late 1990s with the fastest 100 in ODI cricket of just 37 balls (record that still stands). Since then, cricket watchers across the world sit up in anticipation almost every time Afridi comes to the crease. More often than not, being an Afridi fan myself , he has been disappointing . But then, his contribution to the side doesn't end there. He has always been a good fielder and over the years, has improved his bowling tremendously. My first memories of his bowling were when he snapped Brian Lara a couple of times in Australia during a tri-series but from then to now, there is sea change of difference in his variations and his general consistency.
If we look at his career, for every ball tampering incident (remember him biting the ball ?) , there has been an incident similar to the one where the bookmakers have said that it was impossible to tempt Afridi into any kind of wrongdoing. Cut to just 2 weeks before the World Cup , the selectors hadn't even named the captain as yet since Misbah-Ul-Haq had led the team superlatively in New Zealand. There seemed to be utter chaos in their camp in the lead up to the tournament. But as usual, every person who understood cricket kept saying, don't underestimate the Pakistanis.
Soon, Afridi was named captain for the World Cup and I must say he has been exceptional. Right from his first press conference where he said that he wants to win the cup for people back home to his performances in each of the 3 games ,in crunch situations, he has been bang on !
His body language on the field has been outright aggressive. He has been fielding brilliantly , making the right bowling changes, rebuking his own bowlers at times for bowling rubbish and celebrating in his trademark style with his hands raised up to the heavens above. That he is the leading wicket taker in the tournament at this moment isn't surprising! He hasn't clicked with the bat as yet but going by the way he is bowling right now, that might not even be needed !
Long back I read somewhere that Leader is the one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way and through his performances so far , Afridi has proved himself to be a Leader. To the rest of the teams - better be wary of Pakistan coz' they are well and truly ON!!!
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