Statistics calculated for a period of (2004/05 - 2005/06)
Inzamam
24 innings = 1200 runs with an average of 50
Yousuf
25 innings = 1337 runs with an average of 53
Younis
29 innings = 1767 runs with an average of 60
Afridi
18 innings = 854 runs with an average of 47
Scores of 103, 156 and 60 in his last four test innings (bar a single innings).
23 wickets at an average of 32
And to top it all off, one of the single best fielders in the side for quite a long time!
Awfully convenient to choose this garbage club player over Afridi. Next thing we know, Asif will be dropped from the team for his one sole inconsistent performance while another trash will be selected from God-knows-which part of Pakistan. I am absolutely livid at this (unanimous?) selection decision.
Looking at the above statistics, seems like only the elite group (at or above 50 average) are guaranteed their place in the side. Anything below 50 (let alone a decent 47) is overlooked and deemed as failure.
Re: Why in God's name is Afridi dropped from the team?
Dhobi bhai, also note that his good knocks have come against a paper attack on lifeless pitches of Lahore and Faislabad, his performance in ODIs against India and Sri Lanka and first test has been weak.
Faisal Iqbal on the other hand is a proper batsman, and played really well under pressure in his last 2 tests (Karachi, & Colombo)
Re: Why in God's name is Afridi dropped from the team?
Absolutely correct! That is precisely the reason why I went back and organized the records for the entire cumulative of (2004/05/06) series, so we can get a better look at his statistics in a more overall bigger picture. I didn't even think dropping Afridi and replacing him with Rao Iftikhar of all people would even be thought of, but what have you, it was done in a matter of minutes.
And yes, all credit to Faisal Iqbal for proving his worth, time and time again. I do believe that he will certainly prove his potential in the upcoming future tours as well as the next year's World Cup. If I had an option, I would have went for both Iqbal and Yousuf in the same team, but that was not the case.
In any matter...............I am shocked at the decision to drop Afridi, to say the least.
Re: Why in God's name is Afridi dropped from the team?
Who is respponsible for selecting the team or has a final say in the playeing eleven? I wouldn't be surprised if it's the Inzmam and I am not going to say anymore as lots has already written about him on other threads.
Re: Why in God’s name is Afridi dropped from the team?
You can not include Afridi in the team as a pure batsman and thats what Pakistan need right now. His advantage comes into play if Pakistan’s bowling is not perofrming which is not the case.
You can not substitute Afridi by anyone of the Inzi, Yousuf, Younus even by your standsrds of Average and this leaves out Imran Farhat and Faisal Iqbal. You can not send Afridi as an opener in the test. Where do you think he will fit in? Pakistan had TOO MANY allrounders in the TEST team. We should have only 2 all rounders at max in the playing eleven
Re: Why in God's name is Afridi dropped from the team?
The Vanue in Past have Suited Medium fast bowlers for Pakistan, 94, 2000 all those times it was fast men who took 20 SL wickets, so i dont blame them completely for playing another Medium fast, I think Afridi got left out more bcoz of Faisal's inning than for Iftikhar.
yeah the decision can be little confusing, but looking at history of that ground, and the way Pakistani Batting cracks under pressure, its not that bad an idea to play both Yousaf and Faisal together and leave Afridi out.
DHobi Bhi, CHill Out and see what happens in next 4 days. and Hope for the best, ** Waisey Aap Nay Afridi key Bahar bathney Par Saata Khela thaa Keya? **:D
Re: Why in God's name is Afridi dropped from the team?
I think they just hate his guts and his looks.They can't stand the fact that he is box offiice and probably gets more sponsors than anyone else in the team.Somebody needs to make Inzamam run a few miles everyday so that he can lose some weight and start thinking right.
Re: Why in God's name is Afridi dropped from the team?
It definitely is Inzamams decision to drop him...Inzamam needs to be fired as captain before the world cup..hes getting more fat by the hour and looks like he is 50 instead of 30 something..he is a very slow thinker and has problems moving in the field...I don't see how you can have someone like that captaining Pakistan especially in the one dayers..where you need to be agile and alert as a captain.
Re: Why in God's name is Afridi dropped from the team?
yeah the decision can be little confusing, but looking at history of that ground, and the way Pakistani Batting cracks under pressure, its not that bad an idea to play both Yousaf and Faisal together and leave Afridi out.
If Pakistan is in desperate need of a pure batsman, I really don't see any reason why they left out Afridi in the first place and brought on this kid in International level at such a scene. Granted that most of us are, in one way or the other, favor of blooding youngsters in the National Team on a consistent basis, but doing so at the expense of a player who have recently exceled in all three departments of the game and who have improved miles under the recent coaching of Woolmer, is simply non-sensical, and rather speaks loads of the ridiculous selection decision that was brought against him. I will now shoot myself and take Sami over Iftikhar anyday.
Although yes, I do partially agree on selecting specialists for the jobs for 5-day-games, but still, what does Rao Iftikhar of all people have that Afridi doesn't?
Re: Why in God’s name is Afridi dropped from the team?
Do not overlook his performances against England and WI as well. If a paper-attack is your reasoning, then why is Razzaq playing? He hasnt done anything special either to justify his place. Afridi gives aggression to this rather subdued Pakistan team playing within themselves. He should have been picked ahead of Razzaq.
Havign said that, I wont discount the possibility of Afridi in some kind of personal crisis and not in proper state of mind.
Re: Why in God's name is Afridi dropped from the team?
Afridi has been pretty low key recently and like Saby said it may be of a personal nature. I was just watching replays of Pakistan's tour of India and England's tour of Pakistan and I must say it was a different Afridi on display there. He was an absolute live wire.
Regardless of his average Afridi is still a far cry from a reliable bat, and given the current shakiness of our batting, Inzi opted for Iqbal. Afridi's batting has been out of sorts ever since the end of the India test series, I hope for his and Pakistan's sake, his problems get sorted out soon.