Shahid Afridi: Still Pakistan’s Mr Dependable?

Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi made 8 ball 23, picked 2 for 26 to guide his team to a memorable victory against New Zealand in 1st T20I.

Over the years world cricket has seen many great players in the Twenty20 (T20) format, hitting big sixes in a crisis or scalping wickets to push their team towards impossible victories. For Pakistan, there has been one name that the team and the fans have relied upon Shahid Khan Afridi. Afridi who has been called as a game-changer, the man who can snatch the match out of the opposition has helped his team win it in style many times. Afridi has represented Pakistan in T20Is almost for a decade and has always been the crucial factor for his side. Pakistan over the years has been lacking good all-rounders and Afridi is one of the most accomplished all-rounders the soil has ever produced, which makes him the x-factor. FULL SCORECARD: New Zealand vs Pakistan 1st T20I at Auckland

One of the best performances by Afridi came in the final match of ICC World Twenty20 2009 against Sri Lanka, where he took a wicket and then went on to score an unbeaten 54*. This is also the highest score by him in this format. But the fact that all the other batsmen failed in that match but Afridi, makes it even more special alongside lifting the trophy and becoming the Man of the Match. ALSO READ: New Zealand vs Pakistan 2015-16,1st T20I: Mohammad Aamer unlucky on his return to international cricket

Now 35-year old, Afridi is the Pakistan T20 captain and also their oldest player in this team. Looking at the fact that T20Is have their own fast pace, makes fitness a priority of the format. Young and raw talents have always been prioritized but Afridi has proved to be a stand out example. ALSO READ: Shahid Afridi saved of embarassment after eating at New Zealand restaurant without the local currency

Towards the end of 2015, the world saw some good display of T20I cricket even though Pakistan couldn’t win many of the matches. One classic example is his performance in the to be the series against England. Afridi, in all the three matches, performed beyond average. In the second T20I, Afridi dismissed the England top order as he single-handed took 3 for 15 while scoring 24 off 8 balls, with 3 fours and a six. The third T2oI of the series saw Afridi take two important wickets in the first innings. He dismissed a dangerous looking Joe Root and sent Moeen Ali for a first ball duck while later in the match he scored a 28-ball 29 with the help of 3 huge sixes. All the efforts went in vain as Pakistan lost the series 3-0 to England.

In the beginning of 2016, Afridi’s efforts saw a rather fruitful end as Pakistan registered a 16-run win against an in form New Zealand. While scoring 23 off 8 in a pressure situation when most of the batsmen failed Afridi shifted the momentum towards Pakistan. He went on to take 2 wickets for 26 runs while being part of four other dismissals as he took 3 catches and remained elemental in a run out.

Prior to ICC World T20 2016 Pakistan, despite having many young and talented players, you will still find a quintessential all-rounder and match winner in the decade-old Shahid Afridi and it would not be wrong in saying that Pakistan will have to do a lot of hard work to fill in the blank space after Afridi bids a final goodbye to international cricket.

(Paulami Chakraborty, a singer, dancer, artist, and photographer, loves the madness of cricket and writes about the game. She can be followed on Twitter at @Polotwitts)

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