Jul 31, 2001 01:56 PM
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No one will ever forget the explosion at Kenya against Sri Lanka. What the teenager had shown that day is not to waste to much time to accept the challenge in 22 yards in his second match. Yes , he is Shahid Afridi. In 1996/97 he was selected for under 19 Pakistan team for West Indies tour but after a SOS he was he was shifted to Kenya for four nation one day tournament. Against Kenya he did not get chance to bat but he thrashed Sri Lanka in the next match and made the world record scoring 102 in only 37 balls. This 17 year old boy hit 11 six in his second international match.
He took 5 wicket haul on his test debut against Australia. In chennai against India he made 142. But after dazzling series there is a set back as he was dropped from the squad to England for the test series. But Shahid Afridi regained his place in the team. Due to his dazzling fireworks spectators are always with Shahid Afridi.
One draw back in Afridi is that he has lack of patience and he is always aggressive. He does not know to wait for a loose delivery which is the master key to play a big innings.
But Afridi is natural batting genius. He can accept any challenge whatever may the situation.
Afridi is quick leg break and googly bowler. He is very useful cricketer in one day matches. In 131 one day international matches he has scored 2934 run with 2 hundreds and 16 fifties. But his strike rate is unbelievable 98.95. Average is only 24.04. Though the average is not good but it is useful as the form of the game demands.
So far he has played 11 test matches (20 innings) and scored only 594 runs including a hundred and 3 fifties. Average is only 31.26. Record book is nothing but it can separate the genius from rest common players. We can’t place Shahid Afridi among the genius players.
