i want to know why the fiery loin of punjab irfan is bowling like some indian daal chawal medium pacer from the 90s now.. did shehzad or malik dilute his morning buffalo milk? put tofu in his kababs?
As much disgusting as the performance (or lack of it) by Akmal, Shehazad, Malik was in this game there is blame on Shahid Afridi too, specially the game agains India when all the pundits were surprised to see seamers/pacers on a spinning track, sending clueless players to face the spin. The whole squad is a bunch of nincompoops starting from the top i.e. Shaharyar Khan all the way down to the coach (team is in between these two a-holes).
Afridi's six-hitting ability is a special gift that few possess even in the modern game and will be sorely missed once he leaves the scene. I am disappointed and frustrated for sure that he did not make the most of his batting talent and often did not use his brain while batting. Too often he threw his wicket away to needless aerial shots after looking set at the crease. The fans and the media are equally to blame. They spoiled Afridi big time. It is perhaps because of his boom boom reputation that Afridi feels under unnecessary pressure to hit a six in every game when he's capable enough to hit boundaries at will. Lofted shots are not needed all the time.
I have sympathy for Afridi in the NZ game but even in that game (I know the RRR had climbed to 11 or 12 when he arrived at the wicket and a boundary was needed every over), I am not sure the lofted shot that he got out to eventually was really necessary at that stage. As captain Afridi (yes it should not all be left to him) should have realised that the team lacked boundary hitting players (apart from Sharjeel) and what was really needed was sensible batting. 4s rather than 6s would have done it and Afridi is powerful enough and good enough to do that. Had he stayed till the 19th over, we would have won.
*Was there indeed foul play?
*
And if Shehzad, Akmal, Malik (and Hafeez by not playing) deliberately lost that game (as some have alluded to), then these four criminals should be kicked out of the team for good. Once you pull on the national jersey, there is absolutely no room for personal friendships and enmities or personal likes and dislikes.
Ex-opener Mohammad Wasim blaming Shoaib Malik and saying whenever Malik comes into the team, he brings politics with him. (I will post the clip if I find it)
Afridi should have retired 5 years back IMO. Not only he dragged himself but also insisted to be the captain. For what? If you call him match-winner, please also tell the ratio of him winning matches alone for Pakistan. May be once in two years? Whats his record against India? Whats his average in all WC matches? He is not a good captain for sure.
And while I agree with all that can be said about Shahzad, Malik, Akmal etc, plz tell me whose favourite was Shahzad until recent split? Same goes with umar akmal. They both were Afridi's besties. Thats what happens when you have preferred your personal ties on the professionalism. Infact there is no professionalism in Pakistani team, one of the biggest reasons of our failures.
That being said, I would totally support Afridi in the last game and anybody who is trying to play politics in the team should be kicked out rightaway.
Malik is the guy who made grouping when Yousuf was captain, when Younis was captain and now when Afridi is.
And he was the same guy who created issues playing for Karachi Kings in PSL. But why is he even there in the team? Becuz his lobby works very effectively and people like Shehryar Khan, Waqar and Afridi have been supporting him all over.
Afridi is prone to personal likes, not that he did it all the time. Also Shehzad, UA, Shoaib have never done magic in past, so I was expecting such performance. Instead of getting blame of slow batting, they could have got out by playing foul shots which they do in every other match. conspiracy seems a fact to some people just because they struggled to stay on the crease.
Making excuses for afridi's pathetic and third class captaincy and his brainless batting and bowling. He should have retired 10 years ago. khus kum jahan pak.
One captain takes the team from no 2 to now 8 or 9 in T20 the other with more or less the same players has taken Pak to number 3 in tests. That is the difference.
Now make your excuses and bad mouth Misbah all you want but facts are facts.
Afridi is a below average player. No other team would have kept Afridi in their team let alone play for 20 years. He is a darra, lag gayee to theek, nai te out. He could not even control his batting all these years, how can he captain a team.
Afridi
ODI
Mat: 398
Runs: 8064
HS: 124
Ave: 23.57*
T20
Mat: 94
Runs: 1315
HS: 54
Ave: 17.77*
Razzaq
ODI
Mat: 265
Runs: 5080
HS: 112
Ave: 29.70*
T20
Mat: 32
Runs: 393
HS: 46
Ave: 20.68*
Razzaq has won more matches for Pakistan than Afridi and he only got to play only 265 ODIs. But people are morons and go for showmanship.
Afridi has ruined Pakistani cricket. Every player now wants to hit 6s and 4s, play stupid shots and go back to pavilion. Cricket is a game patience. You got to slowly build your innings, but in our team, ain't nobody got time for that.
Even our T20 rating took a dive… notice missing of some key players when that happened. If I am not wrong, it started with Saeed Ajmal’s exit?
I am no fan of his but Afridi has about 31 MoM awards out of 398 ODIs (7.78%), that means he was instrumental in team’s victory 31 times while Abdul Razzaq won MoM in 18 games out of 265 (6.79%).
I have already retired from watching cricket a few years back, only used to watch Pak-India matches or Pakistani team play in world cups. Have not watched a single match this year round. This team cant win matches, it can only frustrate due to its performance (lack of). We cannot blame Afridi as such for the debacle, the whole system needs revamping.
