Re: Stats Pack: Afridi overtakes Kumble
I have to completely disagree…yes afridi played his first match as bowler but he was only 16 with almost no healthy first class experience…what I am trying to say that it is not like he had played over 40 first class matches with 150 wickets as a leg-break spinner and was included into the team to fill the gap as a specialist leg break spinner…that was absolutely not the case.. upon his debut, his leg break skills were as unknown as were his batting skills … he was a bit of both and that is how he was known…a logical question would be why was he selected into the team at the first place when his batting and bowling skills both were sort of unproven? frankly speaking he got into the team because of the regional politics and quota representation..after zakir khan, there was zero presence from NWFP in our national team for a very long time and afridi was pushed into the team for political reasons more than anything else… so to call him “a specialist spinner upon his debut” is a misstatement and distortion of our cricket history.