Afridi for the win!

To all those who think Afridi is not a good captain, the recent victory against New Zealand speaks volumes.

I am glad that Pakistan won the series. No surprise there. I am Pakistani; of course I would be happy for my country’s victory. However, there is another reason why I am glad we won today. It is because now, Shahid Afridi will most probably be retained as captain.

The lack of trust that the management has shown in the captain of the national team, for me, has been confusing and somewhat frustrating as well. When Pakistan won the Test series under Misbahul Haq, I, although not entirely of the view, felt inclined towards the possibility of Misbah captaining the One Day International (ODI) side as well.

Shahid Afridi is a good captain. For all those who have been saying that Afridi is merely a batsman who only cares about his own performance and doesn’t have the ability to prioritise; we won!

At the end of the day, a captain’s success is determined by the team’s success, and more so by learning from the failure. When we lost the first match, fans went on the regular “this team can’t do anything.”

I understand that it is the best of fans who have the worst of angers when it come to a team’s loss, but the performance of Pakistan since then has been phenomenal.

Today, Ahmed Shahzad showed us that Pakistan does not have a dearth of surprises in its lineup, while in the last two matches our most dependable players, Abdur Razzaq and Misbah, conveyed the message that we are very much prepared to take on bigger foes in the world cup.

For me, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) seems to have become this monster that can’t decide what to destroy first, which is why I am glad that we won today so the PCB doesn’t have to bother its head too much about making the right decision.

It would be worth mentioning here that despite the lack of confidence on the part of the PCB, it was heartening to hear cricketers in the field, including Misbah as well as past legends, not shy away from standing behind the current flag bearer.

Go Afridi, go Pakistan!