Shahid Afridi (Photo credit: R@VITH)This is not about Shahid Afridi the bowler but about the batsman who began his ODI batting career with a century, against Sri Lanka, in the KCA Centenary Tournament, at Nairobi, Kenya, in 1996. It was, in fact, his second match; Afridi did not get to bat in the first game against Kenya. Coming to the crease at the fall of the first wicket on 60/1, Afridi joined Saeed Anwar, and together the pair put on 126 runs. Batting in the company of an aggressive batsman like Saeed Anwar, Afridi scored 102 out of 126. His innings lasted just 40 balls, and he got to his century in 38 balls, a world record in his very first ODI that has stood unbeaten ever since.
On the occasion, Pakistan piled up 371, with Saeed Anwar hitting 115, and went on to win the game by a dominant 82 run margin. Afridi went on to take 1/43 with his fastish leg breaks and earned a well deserved Man of the Match award.
Thereafter, barring a brief spell in 1997, when he showed some level of consistency, his batting career progressed in spurts, with plenty of single-digit failures. He had to wait until September 1998 for his next ton, which he got against India at Toronto. Partnering Anwar at the top of the order, Afridi made 109 off 94 balls and though he did not take any wickets, had a hand in two run outs. Pakistan won the match and Afridi the MOM award.
Another four years elapsed before Afridi's 3rd ODI hundred, and this time New Zealand were at the receiving end of Afridi's bat. Chasing 213 to win, at Sharjah, Pakistan achieved the target with over 18 overs to spare, on the back of Afridi's 108 off 92 balls. The innings was studded with 8 sixes.
Three more years elapsed before Afridi's next ton, and it came at Kanpur against India. Chasing 250 to win, Afridi put his team on track with a 46-ball 102 including 9 sixes, the second-fastest ODI hundred. The fifth and sixth tons came in the space of three games, in 2010, against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh at Dambulla, Sri Lanka. An innings of 109 off 72 balls including 7 sixes came in a losing cause against Sri Lanka. Two matches later, Bangladesh felt the brunt when Afridi got 124 off just 60 balls to set up a Pakistan victory. He got to his hundred in 51 balls, the sixth fastest ODI ton.
His booming sixes have earned Afridi the nickname of Boom Boom, and that unfortunately has proved to be his undoing. The batsman feels that he has to boom boom on every ball, and more often than not gets out recklessly, as he proved in the league match against Australia. His run of scores at the World Cup makes sad reading: 7, 16, 20, 17, 3 and 2.
Despite his legendary profligacy, Afridi has an average of nearly 24, in 318 ODIs, in which he has scored in excess of 6,600 runs and taken more than 300 wickets. But against West Indies his batting average falls to 18.33, with a highest of 67. If the Pakistan skipper can equal that highest score in the quarter-final against West Indies, he would surely propel his team to a winning position coming in, as he does, late in the batting order.
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