Shahid Afridi--The Truth

[Hamxa89]

Originally Posted by Shayan Fair enough. But if he scores less than 10 runs in his next 10 ODI games, and doesn't take any wickets, would the fact that he is "box office" and "scares the opposition" keep him in the team?

Again, you are missing the point. The OP was questioning his fan-base and superstar/legendary status. My post was just a justification for the mentioned. Not an argument in the favor of his place in the team specifically.

As for your question, I'd say no. Anyone who is a liability on the team should be booted out.

[Bublu Bhuyan]

Originally Posted by Savak Misbah is a serial match loser. If only there was a law to punish players who have cost the team so many games from the jaws of victory. You cannot compare Misbah to the match winner Afridi.

His innings in the last WC match against India still baffles me.

[Pak_Lover]

That's the challenge now for Afridi ... To be honest i am one of his die hard fans but I feel reluctant to rate him as higher as the true Legends like Waqar,Waseem Imran etc. etc, but yeah if he helps Pakistan to Lift the world cup at Australian soil in 2015 then he will surely be in the same league for me and OP too.... well I hope if he is not Afridi Hater

all the way

[CricketTruth]

Originally Posted by Hamxa89 Again, you are missing the point. The OP was questioning his fan-base and superstar/legendary status. My post was just a justification for the mentioned. Not an argument in the favor of his place in the team specifically. As for your question, I'd say no. Anyone who is a liability on the team should be booted out.

I'm not questioning his popularity. I'm questioning those who think he is great from purely a cricketing point of view. If you are an Afridi fan who doesn't think he's a great player then I'm not arguing against you. I'm arguing against the Afridi fans who THINK he's even close to being a great player.

There may not be these fans on this board, but I've spoken to people who considered Afridi the main threat in the Pak team when AJMAL of all people was the other spinner!

[Moosa_Zulqarnain]

Great post.....I agree with you....Shahid Afridi is the most overrated over-hyped extremely ordinary cricketer in the world....he is a balloon that deflates time and again....had he been an Australian he wouldn't even have made it to their domestic cricket

[Zaz]

Originally Posted by Pak_Lover That's the challenge now for Afridi ... To be honest i am one of his die hard fans but I feel reluctant to rate him as higher as the true Legends like Waqar,Waseem Imran etc. etc, but yeah if he helps Pakistan to Lift the world cup at Australian soil in 2015 then he will surely be in the same league for me and OP too.... well I hope if he is not Afridi Hater all the way

Doubt he ll be around till then, you're forgetting thats 3 years away and afridi isnt as fit as he used to be

Age is catching up with the animal whos 34-35 anyways

[CricketTruth]

Originally Posted by Pak_Lover That's the challenge now for Afridi ... To be honest i am one of his die hard fans but I feel reluctant to rate him as higher as the true Legends like Waqar,Waseem Imran etc. etc, but yeah if he helps Pakistan to Lift the world cup at Australian soil in 2015 then he will surely be in the same league for me and OP too.... well I hope if he is not Afridi Hater all the way

Got nothing to do with being an Afridi hater. Even if he is involved in 2015 world cup victory he is so far from Waqar, Waseem and Imran. Imran was arguably the 2nd greatest test player ever. He could take wickets in flat or helpful conditions and averaged 22 with the ball in tests. He was also a handy batsman averaging 37, the same as some top order batsman.

Any form of comparison between Afridi and Imran is a joke. Same with Waqar and Wasim. We are talking about all time great bowlers who destroyed sides in both test and one dayers, how could Afridi even be considered with them? A bits and pieces spinner in the Jayasuriya mould, and a seriously inconsistent batsman, and one who didnt even play tests and you are discussing him with these guys?

By all means enjoy him, but doesnt make him anything great as a player.

[aneeqsultan]

any one who hate afridi its mean he is jealous of him....
dont cry babies he is always the bst cricketer in the world no one can match him in a past not now and not in the future too...

[khalil1986]

Originally Posted by aneeqsultan any one who hate afridi its mean he is jealous of him.... Dont cry babies he is always the bst cricketer in the world no one can match him in a past not now and not in the future too...

[truthseer]

Afridi wasn't great but now in the past two years, he has put in one great performance after another, with regards to bowling. According to Stats:

Start of match date greater than or equal to 1 Oct 2010
Mat Runs HS Bat Av 100 Wkts BBI Bowl Av 5 Ct St
41 719 75 21.78 0 62 5/16 25.75 5 11 0

The bowling average has been exceptional

[insaaniyat]

Originally Posted by Bublu Bhuyan ^^

bublu long time no see. how are you? To the post above you

[Bublu Bhuyan]

Originally Posted by insaaniyat bublu long time no see. how are you? To the post above you

I'm good. How about you?

[randompakistani]

Shahid Afridi is the Fernando Torres of Cricket. He performs occasionally but whenever he does, he is a match winner with full style and charm.

[pakistanalltheway]

Originally Posted by aneeqsultan any one who hate afridi its mean he is jealous of him.... dont cry babies he is always the bst cricketer in the world no one can match him in a past not now and not in the future too...

lol are you for real


if you are stop throwing your toys out the pram

[Hamxa89]

Originally Posted by CricketTruth I'm not questioning his popularity. I'm questioning those who think he is great from purely a cricketing point of view. If you are an Afridi fan who doesn't think he's a great player then I'm not arguing against you. I'm arguing against the Afridi fans who THINK he's even close to being a great player. There may not be these fans on this board, but I've spoken to people who considered Afridi the main threat in the Pak team when AJMAL of all people was the other spinner!

This post of yours is more specific where as you made somewhat sweeping statements in the OP. Let me break it down for you.

Firstly, there is rarely any Afridi fan who thinks Afridi as good a cricketer as those you mentioned in the OP. Give me single person who claims Afridi is a better batsman than Miandad or a better all-rounder than Wasim. There is none!

So I doubt if you were talking only from a cricketing point of view.

In the last paragraph you said that its time to appreciate the real legends and "better" players than Afridi. My post tried to give you reasons why he is appreciated more than the "better" players you mentioned. You also called Misbah a more valuable player than Afridi. I certainly don't agree with that. I told you that the value of a player is not just measured through his stats per say but there are other factors. I think Afridi is more valuable to Pakistan than Misbah and also a very special player.

But yes, not a great player.

[Zaz]

Originally Posted by truthseer Afridi wasn't great but now in the past two years, he has put in one great performance after another, with regards to bowling. According to Stats: Start of match date greater than or equal to 1 Oct 2010 Mat Runs HS Bat Av 100 Wkts BBI Bowl Av 5 Ct St 41 719 75 21.78 0 62 5/16 25.75 5 11 0 The bowling average has been exceptional

I believe the bowling stats in particular are inflated due to severe minnow bashing

[Shayan]

Is there any player in the world that is considered great solely based on his ODI/T20 performances?

Had Afridi not quit the toughest form of the game, and bothered to make an effort, there is a slim possibility he may have been considered alongside the greats of Pakistani cricket.

Without test cricket Shahid, i'm sorry but there's nothing to discuss.

I still love the guy

[CricketTruth]

Originally Posted by Zaz I believe the bowling stats in particular are inflated due to severe minnow bashing

Ye from memory there are 5 for almost nothing against Canada, 5 against Kenya for almost nothing, 5 v Afghanistn for almost nothing. Of the serious teams, he's been amazing against SL in recent times. Still doesnt change the fact that his overall record against SL is poor.

[CricketTruth]

Originally Posted by Hamxa89 This post of yours is more specific where as you made somewhat sweeping statements in the OP. Let me break it down for you. Firstly, there is rarely any Afridi fan who thinks Afridi as good a cricketer as those you mentioned in the OP. Give me single person who claims Afridi is a better batsman than Miandad or a better all-rounder than Wasim. There is none! So I doubt if you were talking only from a cricketing point of view. In the last paragraph you said that its time to appreciate the real legends and "better" players than Afridi. My post tried to give you reasons why he is appreciated more than the "better" players you mentioned. You also called Misbah a more valuable player than Afridi. I certainly don't agree with that. I told you that the value of a player is not just measured through his stats per say but there are other factors. I think Afridi is more valuable to Pakistan than Misbah and also a very special player. But yes, not a great player.

These are fair points. I wont adress all of them as it would take a long time now but what I would say with Afridi is this, and I'm only referring to one day cricket. He debuted in 1996 and has been around for ages, yet I can remember very few decent performances in big one day tournaments. World cup 2011 is about it. He did v well there but as we said he mostly dominated minnows. A guy called Geoff Allott was leading wicket taker in 1999 that didnt make him great player.

All these years what has Afridi done in the 50 over game? People say stats are misleading and there are other factors. I think this is true, but in most cases stats show the rough level that a player is at, and other factors (often which are deeper stats) can change the value of a player slightly.

To give an example. Saqlain and Afridi have such a big gap in their bowling records that it's not possible to argue that Afridi is even close to Saqlain as a bowler. No other factor could make this comparable. If we compare Afridi and Jayasuriya as bowlers, then since they are quite close stats wise, other factors can impact who is better. These other factors could be performances in big tournaments, number of top order wickets etc...

Afridi's batting strike rate is the only thing about him which is really and truly impressive. Unfortunately his batting average is too low for it to have a matchwinning impact other than very occasional matches.