Shahid Afridi: The curtains on him?

Reactive but showing character, Shahid Afridi has tendered his retirement from international cricket. Whatever grain he said he wanted to achieve or work with, he still had to contend with powerful forces pulling in different directions. It has led to the problems of Afridi versus the PCB — it seemed it was his thinking of centralization of power whilst Ijaz Butt, presumably, wasn’t willing to delegate it or making him an authoritative captain.

Many people dream about making the cricket a better place, and Afridi was fortunate in being able to come close to an opportunity to actually do it. Nonetheless he squandered it by not focusing on his dreams. Afridi’s influence as captain and a player was greatly exaggerated. Afridi was often accused of causing the politics within the team, though he was mostly a fringe player, erratic and not a ready-made choice in presence of outstanding contemporaries like Saeed Anwar, Aamir Sohail, Inzamam Ul Haq, Mohammad Yousuf, Abdur Razzak and with his leg spin, the diminutive Mushtaq Ahmad.

While I was with the Pakistan team, Afridi’s existence was mostly questionable, often he was responsible for triggering politics from within. He was an efficient one-day cricketer, underscored as a Test match player and an ideal choice for the gallery in Twenty20 tournament. He had flair and flamboyance, enormous talent but it seemed he was a ‘headless’ cricketer who wanted to discover the ‘Hope’ Blue Diamond from the bottomless depths of the Pacific Ocean, whenever he went out to bat. He wasn’t dependable as a player. But he produced results at crucial times.

Afridi, by default, reached a privileged position. To sum it up, he combined three qualifications. First, he hit the ball powerfully and naturally without any conceptual framework, and often delivered in the far from equilibrium situations, second, he had a set of firm beliefs though the political ones were strong and third, he had lobbies functioning for him. His talent was unbridled and unusual.

In addition, his networking with Wasim Akram and Moin Khan was fundamental in heightening his career despite strolling on the fringes of mediocrity.

He tried disciplining himself but met with little success. And as the senior players frizzled out, the situation for Afridi was practically reversed. His ability to accomplish things of his own had greatly diminished, partly because he was taking on bigger issues and partly because he wasn’t the only player on the field. On the other hand, as he grew in the team, he became overtly manipulative and played his role intelligently to pit Yawar Saeed (manager) against Younus Khan, eyeing the team’s captaincy and commissioned and acquired considerable convening power.

Regrettably, he didn’t ever realise he needed to clarify where he stood; he just took everything in its stride and didn’t really grilled into the ‘ball-biting’ incident, or the pitch-tampering episode in a Test match, or the manipulative theories that he had to use to hang on to Pakistan’s captaincy. There wasn’t anything unusual about that in Pakistan cricket. He inadvertently entangled into a web; sharing power and confronting Waqar Younis. He wasn’t in picture that others could perform on a larger scale. Afridi ended trying to have ‘interests’ but no principles.

He led the team from the front in the World Cup, picking a haul of 21 wickets and spurred Pakistan in crucial moments. Little did he know that like him, people around him also had ‘ulterior’ motives. He assumingly believed he was different, being able to do the right thing was a rare privilege, and exercising that privilege was ample reward.

Tactically he didn’t really impress as captain. Strategically his theories were close to blasphemy. In his leadership role, though effective, it became counter-productive as the other power-players began to use the shovel. He confronted Mohsin Khan and Waqar Younis and had displeased quite a few senior players plus the chairman of the PCB. His time as country’s captain saw an abrupt end. He didn’t correct his ‘attitude’ and ‘mistakes’. In international cricket, for almost 14 years, he should have known that in that area, being wrong had more lasting consequences and implications. He should have known he wasn’t the best choice as captain.

Nevertheless, I believe the common interests of the Pakistan team badly needed looking after and it was better to do it imperfectly than not to try at all. After the West Indies tour, he talked publically about the in-team deflections. He played an important role in triggering a war against Waqar. Misbah-ul-Haq looks sensate and sensible and I hope he isn’t going to follow Afridi’s footsteps.

It seems that by withdrawing from the two one-day international matches against Ireland on the pretext of overstaying in the US because of his father’s illness, Afridi has unofficially announced his reactive mindset. His time as Pakistan’s flamboyant cricketer and the horizon is getting shorter. Therefore, he must draw a distinction between what he could hope to accomplish in his times as an active cricketer.

I believe, Afridi was wrongly appointed as Pakistan’s captain and now he has been ridiculously removed from the responsibility which he had started to realise. It is so typical of Ijaz Butt’s government. Afridi’s example is the depiction of Ijaz Butt’s inadequacy to remodel the destiny of Pakistan cricket. It makes him and the team vulnerable to adversity.