Is Shahid Khan Afridi an overrated player?

Is Shahid Khan Afridi an overrated player?

Shahid Khan Afridi is undoubtedly one of the finest cricketers Pakistan has ever produced.

He made his professional ODI debut against Kenya back in October 2^nd 1996 as a leg spinner and never had the chance to show his brilliance with the bat, he also went wicket-less.

Pakistan faced Sri Lanka in the next match and it was an era that truly belonged to the Sri Lankan batsmen and top of the list was Sanath Jayasuria.

Afridi was promoted up the order to boost the run rate and was sent as a pinch hitter. He managed to score the fastest ODI hundred in just 37 balls overcoming the previous best by Sanath Jayasuria (48 balls) which was against Pakistan.

His brilliant knock helped Pakistan with a mighty total of 371 on the board. He became the youngest player to score an ODI century and was declared the man of the match.  Pakistan easily defended the total and won by 81 runs.

Afridi became a sensation all across the world; his innings against Sri Lanka seemed just a different format of a base ball game. His name is still at the top of the list of the fastest century scorers.

He was definitely a player of great potential and a true role model. He has helped Pakistan with a number of victories throughout his extensive career.

To his credit, Afridi has played over 400 matches including 27 Tests, 341 ODIs and 48 T 20s with a total number of 11 centuries and 44 fifties collectively. He has a batting average of 36.51 in Tests, 23.59 in ODIs and 17.39 in T 20s.

He has also taken 48 wickets in test matches, 343 in ODIs and 56 in T 20s with an average of 35.60, 33.39 and 19.91 respectively. The 32-year-old has been up and down the order initially but has now settled at the 7^th position.

Shahid has definitely made some valuable contributions to Pakistan’s cricket but it is a personal belief that he could have done a lot more for his side considering his potential.

As said earlier, Afridi has helped Team Pakistan with a number of victories through both his bat and bowl but he has also cost us a lot of matches because of his impatient approach.

Former Pakistani cricketer and the ‘Sultan of Swing’ Waqar Younis had the opportunity to coach the home side while Shahid was captaining the team.

Waqar shared his experience as, “As a (former) captain I feel he is still very immature, has poor discipline, lacks a game plan and is unwilling to listen to others’ opinions or advice,” Waqar said in his report.

“Besides myself, the rest of the coaching staff has worked very hard with him to improve his abilities as a long-term and successful captain but sometimes his volatile and immature nature have proved detrimental and led to unfortunate outcomes including game losses”.

“I …. Tried to discuss different options for the team but he behaved very inappropriately and walked out of the meeting.

“I have to say, this is a very unprofessional attitude of a team’s captain and does not help the team flourish”, he concluded.

He definitely had the whole side under control during his captaincy. The only thing that Afridi never had under his control though, is his own nerves, the days he overcomes that, he will be amongst the greatest cricketers ever produced by the game and not only by Pakistan.

With almost 16 years of International cricket experience under his belt, the question still remains as to whether Afridi is a top order batsman, a tail ender, a pitch-hitter, a leg spinner or an all-rounder?

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Posted by Ahmed Babar on Mar 26 2012. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.