Forever mercurial: Rise of the great entertainers

Afridi, Gayle both shine despite recently being at the centre of controversies

MUMBAI: Chris Gayle smashed a century and Shahid Afridi rediscovered his boom with the bat as the veteran destroyers powered the West Indies and Pakistan respectively to victories on Wednesday.

Both men had faced some hostile headlines in recent weeks and they revelled in their triumphs, with Gayle saying he had been on a mission to entertain his teammate Sulieman Benn.

Gayle triggered a firestorm in January when he asked an Australian TV presenter for a date live on air during the Big Bash League.

But in his post-match TV interview after Wednesday’s innings, he said his ‘fantastic’ innings was designed to impress his drinking buddy Benn.



“Before I went out, Sulieman said you’re going to ‘entertain me’,” said a beaming Gayle after hitting the third-fastest T20I century. “I wanted to entertain my teammate — he’s my drinking partner as well.”

After his blistering 19-ball 49 helped Pakistan post a commanding total of 201-5, Afridi took two key wickets in a tidy spell that helped limit Bangladesh to 146-6.

A relieved Afridi, accused in some quarters of being a ‘traitor’ for saying he received more ‘love’ from Indian than Pakistani fans, said he was proud to have led by example.



“It’s a big event and I thought I should take responsibility as the captain,” Afridi said after being named man of the match.

While his batting pyrotechnics once earned him the nickname ‘Boom Boom’, Afridi has endured a torrid time at the crease in the last couple of years and some observers felt his ability to play a match-winning innings had gone for good.

But after promoting himself to number four in the order, Afridi smacked four boundaries and four sixes to help Pakistan register their second-highest score in T20s.



“I was hungry. I was keen to perform well for my country. As senior player, I had to lead by example,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2016.

Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.