Comment: The man that is Shahid Afridi

In The Express Tribune’s Open Letter on Shahid Afridi, published on December 7 2013, we had concluded that Afridi might still be able to pull off a few stunts and he has given enough proof in the ongoing Asia Cup.

Before we dwell on the madness, the magic that doused the practitioners of black magic at their own venue, the booming Afridi fan club needs to be reassured that the man is recovering from the groin strain sustained in the Bangladesh bashing. His message is a plain simple “Yes Inshallah, I will play the final”.

Lala has singlehandedly turned two games on their head in a way only he can and cricket in Pakistan is back as the top story, occupying front page space for all the right reasons.

The ‘Mayhem in Mirpur’ has scalped India and Bangladesh with the packed stadium gunning for the men in green last Sunday being reduced to tears after the outrageous Afridi assault on Tuesday.

Some figures will help us ascertain the impact Boom Boom has made and give readers a bit of context. Afridi’s spellbinding maiden ODI hundred was scored off 37 balls 18 years ago. In the last two matches, he has faced 43 balls and smashed 10 sixes, accumulating 93 extremely crucial runs in the process.

All these years the power has not vanished, neither has his courage and single-minded determination to smash the ball the hardest possible way.

All these years there is nothing that hinders his thought process or the lack of it altogether. What needs to be done is to be done come what may.

After the India game, Afridi was understandably over the moon. The perky, flamboyant and full of energy Boom Boom was ready to answer his phone barely an hour after his stunning innings.

“The nation must keep praying, stay happy and back us to the hilt,” a humour filled goodbye followed as his voice drowned amid screams of his overjoyed fans gathered around their hero in the team hotel in Mirpur.

Journalists are expected to be unbiased and neutral in their opinion. They are expected to report and not have their own feelings and emotions collude their work, but in the midst of an Afridi assault all calculations, permutations, theories and analysis go out of the window. One is bewildered and enters a state where nothing but action on the field matters.

But a day later, donning the hat of a pure critic of the game, one can ascertain that one factor weighed heavily in Afridi’s favour in the two astonishing assaults — the absence of a genuine fast bowler in the opposition.

In the opening match, Sri Lanka’s fastest and the most potent death over bowler Lasith Malinga accounted for him cheaply during a spell that tore through Pakistan’s lower-order.

India and Bangladeshi bowlers are either spinners or medium pacers and feed Afridi’s strong hitting zones ball after ball. A faster bowler can vary his length and bowl a quick bouncer and unsettle Boom Boom. Hence, the test has not been a stiff one against the archrivals and the hosts, despite the immense pressure.

But that’s all the critic can think for now. The moment and the week is all about celebrating Afridi and the impact of his performances. This is the time to be bewitched by his spell.

The final might yet be a different story, the unpredictable, mercurial Pakistan might make us cringe, Boom Boom might be all doom, yet till then we can keep replaying those ten sixes in Mirpur over and over again, my personal favourite the smallest, the most ungainly of them all, the one that sealed Ravichandran Ashwin and India’s fate.

The writer is a sport desk incharge at The Express Tribune

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2014.

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