2023-09-11 09:48:19
Don’t tell a storm to slow down, don’t tell a tsunami to slow down and wash the shore. Don’t tell Afridi to slow down either. It is ineffective or futile. In 1996, he entered the international arena with a tsunami. Opponents Sri Lanka in the first innings to bat. It was amazing that he took the bat and swung it without any grudge or grudge from the beginner. Century from 37 balls. Record in first international innings. Man of the match award in the very first game. There is no better entry into world cricket and no better message for world cricket. He had written inta vanthiten raza on every six that he stepped out.
Afridi’s method was to hit any ball and cross the boundary. So he used to just throw the wicket away. Captain Wasim Akram has repeatedly asked Afridi to play with restraint. But a ball that leaves the hands of the bowler will catch him off guard. He will slip into the single-mindedness of pulling away. Every moment he is at the crease is a nightmare for the opposition. Any world-class bowler will go down and throw a wide or a no-ball or a full toss. He has so much fear with the bat.
Indian fans might only watch with a sigh of relief when he crushed India’s dreams with blooming ease during Pakistan’s tour of India in 2005. Afridi’s knock was in the fifth match of the six-match ODI series. Batting first, India’s innings ended on 249 runs that day. Pakistan’s innings was opened by Salman Bhatt and Afridi. The very third over bowled by Balaji was an indication of what was going to happen on the field. Two sixes and two fours were born from Afridi’s bat. He began to sow fear.
India was forced to change bowling in the fifth over of the innings. Balaji was replaced by the experienced Kumble. Kumble’s first ball, a six. Second ball, six. Fourth ball, four. Fifth ball, six. There is only a puff of smoke on the field. Captain Rahul Dravid is convinced that the final culprit of the bowling change error is Vela. Balaji, who had been withdrawn, was re-introduced. But there was no change. Zaheer Khan was bowling well once morest Salman Bhatt on the one side to moderate the rocket-like pace of the run-rate. But in the 8th over when he got Afridi, Zaheer Khan also got hot with the bat. A six and a four came in that over as well. Afridi also scored a half century from twenty balls.
Zaheer Khan and Dinesh Mongia, who came in between, kept on taking the beating. Yuvraj Singh caught Afridi who tried to play a big ball off a ball from Dinesh Mongia, but the ball was a no ball. There is no point in blaming Mongia when the wide is bowled to the experienced Kumble. Afridi was swinging the field full of mischief. The ball went flying and the umpire tied the side. Ravi Shastri’s commentary called Boom Boom Afridi was regarding what was happening on the field. Afridi picked up the bat by hitting Harbhajan for a boundary in the fifteenth over. Second fastest century of his career. The teammates celebrated the century with applause in the dressing room.
Afridi tried to defend Harbhajan’s next ball following scoring a century. Afridi tried to defend a ball for the first time in that innings. But it fell apart. Afridi clean bowled. Harbhajan’s Scissors for the Carnival staged in Kanpur. 131 runs were on the scoreboard at that time. It was on his face that Afridi himself felt that such a defense was not needed then. However, Afridi returned following bringing things to a place where those who came later might play without any pressure.
Afridi was not only a firework batsman but also a wicket taking bowler. Fast penetrating leg breaks were his specialty. The speed of a ball bowled by Afridi in the third T20 once morest New Zealand on December 30, 2010 is a record. The speed of that fifth ball in the fourteenth over was 134 km per hour. When New Zealand’s Tim Southee was helpless, unable to defend, the ball went through the middle stump. In 2009, in the ODI match held in Dubai once morest the mighty Australia, he took just 38 runs and took 6 wickets to steal the match away from Australia. In the first ODI once morest the West Indies on 14 July 2013, he took 7 wickets and conceded only 12 runs. There are many performances like this to underline that he was an exceptional all-rounder.
While he was strong in the game, he was never dignified on the field. He has often gained notoriety for unnecessarily provoking, insulting and yelling at opposing teammates. He has also created controversies by paying match fee fines and getting banned from matches. He was punished for abusing Sachin and Sehwag during the 2003 World Cup. Indian fans may not forget the encounter with Gambhir on the field and the fight with Dhoni in his early days.
It was like an ordeal for the Indian players to survive the extra pressure and sledging on the field when India and Pakistan clashed. In an interview with Star Sports, when asked regarding Sachin Tendulkar’s best innings, Sehwag said it was his 98 once morest Pakistan in the 2003 World Cup. Sehwag talks regarding the tough sledge he had to face from Afridi on Sachin’s field who scored 98 off 75 balls that day. Afridi tried to provoke Sachin by using profanity without any hesitation. But Sehwag says that those 98 runs scored with restraint are more glorious than the century and those runs were crucial in giving victory to India. That is what Sachin sees as his favorite innings.
Despite receiving many punishments, he did not change his behavior. He has made many mistakes by drawing on the pitch with the thorn of his boot and showing irregularities by biting the ball. He would do anything to win. It was impossible to predict what he would do in the next second. He has not even heeded the advice of captain Wasim Akram who told him not to swing the bat in such a way as to throw away wickets in the early days. He did not hesitate to announce his sudden retirement following realizing that he was not the right man for the Test. In short, he is a staunch denier.
Afridi has an undeniable place in Pakistan’s cricket history. For Pakistani fans, he is their favorite Lala. He also holds the record for most sixes in ODI cricket. His dangerous batting moments on the field have earned him fans outside of Pakistan. why Even in India. The only issue is whether he is creating a deluge with the bat or he is a deluge by himself. He doesn’t know how to be indifferent, numb or scared. It’s going to hurt. Sometimes it stumbles before it starts running. Or if it doesn’t fall, then it’s a flood. No river can overflow in that flood. Even the rushing sea becomes turbulent.
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