Biggest fan of afridi....yes that is what I am. Cricket in its entire history has never seen such a great hitter.
I think this great player has been much underrated. Reason is that such a different player who has such an aggressive style of playing which has been unknown to the humanity before him, needs special nurturing, nourishing and special encouragement. The fault in his initial years did not lie in him, it was in his captains. No one before him was ever fimiliar with such aggressive, explosive style of batting. So everyone fro Miandad, Rameez and whoever criticized him. Everyone wanted him to hold himself back, not realizing that he is an extra-ordinarily gifted hitter. His natural style is just to hit, he JUST CANNOT hold himself back. No one realized that even 30 minutes of Afridi’s hitting can do so much damage and could be demoralizing for the opposition, which entire day’s play of Younas khan or such player cannot do. No one could realize that if afridi succeeds in 1 ou of 4 innings, he would win a match for pakistan.
Until Inzamam became captain and Woolmer became coach. Now he was given license to kill. And since then, his explosive hitting, relentless carnage in the middle of the ground has raised his status to a demigod. His entrance in the ground is cheered like a WWE wrestler entering the ring. His charisma is such, that if gets out, spectators start leaving. He is such a treat to watch, that I can stay up all might in USA to watch his maddness. He is so strong that even his mishits bring him sixes out of no where.
And icing on the cake is his excellent bowling. He cannot only bowl a leg break, but googlies, off breaks and his faster one which can shock master batsmen too. I think he is very underrated as a bowler. I think he merits to be in the team entirely on the basis of his bowling too.
And who can deny his great fielding abilities. A panther in the field.
No wonder he has ’’sher’’ written on his bat. He is a Sher for pakistani team. I wish he keeps going.