Well a person who had made news for the right as well as the wrong reasons has decided to call it a day when yesterday the Pakistani slogger-Shahid Afridi quits international cricket. This would mean most of the major cricketing websites would focus on his three fastest hundreds that came against three sub-continent nations namely Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh. But, speaking facts, Shahid Afridi's absence in the Pakistani batting line up should boost up their middle order for, Shahid Afridi is no way better than some Shoaib Akthar or any other tail end batsmen when it comes to batting.With so many beautiful shots out there like the cover-drive, the on-drive and much more, Shahid Afridi has had only one shot-just blindly whip the bat and in case it makes contact with the ball you have six runs added to your credit. And, in case the ball nicks the edge of the bat, the slip fielder would be having one more catch to his credit and that is all. In that regard, Shahid Afridi is a batsman one of his kind. Even tail end batsmen would think a dozen times before going in for a shot unlike Shahid Afridi from Pakistan.We can remember the Australian nightwatchman Jason Gillespie who got a double hundred against Bangladesh which is too much for his standard as a batsman. It was just the helplessness of the Pakistan Crickat Board (PCB) which hardly had any option but to crown Afridi as the Pakistani captain for the 2011 world cup. Afridi should consider himself to be lucky for, he was the captain of the Pakistan side which defeated Australia after their unbeaten 36 match streak and made it to the finals after Waqar Younis and Inzamam (who were better captains compared to Shahid Afridi) could not manage.Irrespective of the situation his team was in, Shahid Afridi took no serious responsibility of his team and used to slog blindly. The three fastest hundreds out of his six centuries should be nothing but fluke. On the other hand, his bowling had a good amount of variation and used to deceive even the most awesome batsmen which saw him bag two five wicket hauls and an equal number of four wicket hauls in the recently concluded world cup. When most of his fans expected him to showcast his power with the bat, he kept them in suspense when his ball listened to him rather then his bat.
Well the retired Pakistani batsman, Inzamam Ul Haq has shown his interest in becoming the batting coach for his team if the latest news in Pakistan cricket is anywhere to go by. This, if at all happens, would be another star batsman taking over as the coach of the Pakistan team after Javed Miandad was selected as the Pakistani coach in the bilateral series involving India in 2004. Though secondary at the moment, that was after a long gap of 12 years that India were touring Pakistan for reasons once again which are secondary here. Whatsoever, Inzamam's nod for the job should be worth a thought by the PCB.The Pakistan team need not be blamed for losing 3 + 5 + 1 matches against Australia last year which was extended to two more T20 losses at the hands of Australia in the T20 world cup followed by a loss in the first test in England. Likewise, it would be worth mentioning that they did win the second test against Australia unexpectedly not before whitewashing the same in the two T20 games that preceded the test series. One doubt that everyone should be found asking should be why was there no one day games played between the countries? Anyways, why should we bother when ICC didn't? Right!Coming to Inzy, the man has been not only out of any cricketing action but has also been out from all sorts of cricket news. After his retirement from all forms of the game in 2007, Inzy was found starting the 2nd innings of his cricketing life when he was found playing for Lahore Badshahs in the banned Indian Cricket League. Since then, Inzamam has neither been seen playing in any of the domestic leagues (atleast as far as my knowledge goes) nor found taking the mike in his hand and doing some sort of commentary stuff like say Wasim Akram is doing after is retirement some 7 years ago.And, how long can Inzy keep himself isolated from the world of cricket, when he has made news for the good reasons in the field since the 1992 world cup for a decade and a half. As a matter of fact, Imran Kahn was found making news in the elections when he stood opposite Benazir Bhutto and then Waqar Younis is seen coaching the bowlers of the national team after 6 years of retiring from all forms of the game. I doubt whether anybody knows that Waqar Younis is the third highest wicket taker in ODIs. And then, despite a hattrick in the 1999 world cup and just 12 scalps less than 300 to his name, Saqlain Mushtaq is a forgotten episode in Pak cricket.The careers after retirement for a cricketer would be commentator, coach, columnist or finally player in other leagues. And, with the ICL breathing its last and IPL closing all doors for Pakistani players, the only option left for Inzy would be coach and it would be no surprise that he is utmost needed for the job.
As expected, this time as well, the Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akthar has been eliminated from the list of probables for the world T20 beginning this April. Though this was not a shock news for most of us, it is truly disappointing for atleast some of us if not all. Shoaib Akthar need not be in full praise for the world's fastest delivery bowled by him with a bent elbow which he might be proud of. Neither was his pace of any danger to any of the well known batsmen of the world. On the otherhand, bowlers with a lesser pace and some part time bowlers have managed to fare better than Shoaib.One need not compare Shoaib with Wasim Akthar or Waqar Younis but, it has been found that every Pakistani captain prefers a part time bowler (who has converted himself into a full time one due to lack of the same in Pakistan cricket) in Shahid Afridi, who is now a days seen bowling 10 overs in every ODI he is found playing. His flash in the pan brilliance was evident when he was able to take 4 wickets for Kolkata Knight Riders in the very first match that he played for the same. This was done against the Delhi Daredevils at Kolkata only to be belted for 14.5 runs an over by Sanath Jayasuriya in their 68 run chase in the next game.Unlike it has happened to Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan, Shoaib Akthar has been lucky when it came to his bent elbow. Muralitharan was targetted by the entire world with Australians having a major share in it when he was about to claim the world record for having the most wickets in test cricket. But, Shoaib Akthar's other related controversies have always found haunting him wherever he goes and whomever he faces. It is not the ICC alone that has targetted Shoaib off late but the PCB itself when it considers Shoaib Akthar to be dangerous for them off the field than to the opposition on it.And time as well, the PCB has sidelined Shoaib Akthar for the T20 world cup that is due in the Caribbean in April this year. And the lame excuse that the PCB is found giving this time is neither got to do anything with his fitness or his form. But, the PCB terms Shoaib Akthar unfit for the tour citing his long term absence from international cricket, which reports suggest that Shoaib last played for Pakistan somewhere in May 2009 against Australia at UAE. But, even Pakistan had not played test cricket for more than a year in 2008 after all teams started boycotting their tours to Pakistan. Should the ICC also ban Pak from playing test cricket?
