Afridi’s selection uncertain for final ODI

Looks like its goodbye Afridi

KARACHI: The fate of Shahid Afridi hangs in the balance ahead of the fifth and final one-dayer against the West Indies here at the National Stadium tomorrow.

Given a lifeline in the fourth One-day International (ODI) in Multan, Afridi flopped again with the bat and is now doubtful for the Karachi game.

The playing eleven for Karachi’s match would be finalised by the team management and chief selector Wasim Bari this evening and it remains to be seen whether Afridi manages to get another chance following the return of Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Yousuf.

“We are keeping our options open,” said a non-committal Bari. “Afridi has been struggling to get some runs and once again failed to impress so lets see what the coach and captain (of the Pakistan team) have to say about him,” he added.

Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and Bari will sit down this evening to decide the line-up for the final one-dayer and will have to take some tough decisions.

At least two players who featured in a seven-wicket defeat in Multan on Wednesday will have to sit out to make way for Inzamam and Mohammad Yousuf.

“Yousuf has informed us about his availability for the Karachi match while Inzamam is also fit and I believe he will play too,” said Bari who pointed out that picking an eleven would be a tricky task.

Comeback batsman Yasir Hameed found instant form in Multan and was Pakistan’s top scorer. Middle order batsman Faisal Iqbal, coming in for the injured Inzamam, also played sensibly.

“Yasir played really well while Faisal did a good job considering the fact that he batted during a difficult phase. Mohammad Sami also bowled pretty well,” said Bari. Sami came in for in-form medium pacer Umar Gul who was rested for the Multan match.

Gul is expected to return for the Karachi game while the team’s think tank will also have to consider rookie left-arm spinner Abdul Rehman. He did a great job in Faisalabad and Lahore but was rested in Multan to make room for Afridi.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=35660

now considering this

this might be the team for saturday

hafeez
farhat
malik
yousuf
inzi
afridi
razzaq
akmal
rana
sami
gul

Well it's not like Afridi played any silly shots this time, he was actually trying to play sensibly and got out.

I've said this before and I'll say it again, Afridi is the only batsman in the world who plays 'premeditated defensive shots' because in his head every ball can be ht for a six!!

He made runs in the domestic down the order and they asked him to open in a team containing 3 other 'proper openers'

Go figure that one out!

They shouldn'thave made him open. Its not his fault.

And like Merc said, there were infact 3 openers in the side already!!!

He wants to open in the subcontinent, no one made him do it. Afridi usually gets his way and still fails, conclusion: he's a failure.

He should play. Open with Hameed, and drop one of the openers and Faisal Iqbal, although Malik hasn't been in the best of form lately either, but i'd prefer to keep him.

I like Shayan's idea.

Abdul Rehman bowled brilliantly in the 2nd and 3rd ODIs. He picked up crucial wickets. I think it will be unfortunate if he got dropped. However, there is only one Afridi and there is no shame in losing your place in the team to Afridi. Afridi should bat lower down the order, I feel he is more consistent down the order.
Shoaib Malik needs a high score, he hasn't batted as well as he can in this series, his bowling has also gone downhill.
M Hafeez, sound technique, good application, good concentration, solid defence, HIGHLY UNLUCKY.
SAMI SAMI SAMI SAMI SAMI SAMI!!!! Hope he plays. Interesting if he bowls first change?

I think someone will have to be sacrifised, Afridi played consistently until he announced his retirement.............. since then he's never looked the same, If he is really 26 then he is an asset to the team and will be required to play a crucial role if Pakistan are to win the World Cup............ if he isn't 26 and he's really like 31 lol (many believe)............ then that would explain why his attacking nature is affected because you're reflexes tend to get slower as you get older.

to be honest, i'm still annoyed he got dropped in the first place. This idea of getting picked/dropped after one good/bad performance seems ridiculous.

This is the very proof that our selectors and team management is more dum then an empty bucket.

Afridi is unfit come on you really want him to play like that?

Rehman has done nothing wrong, and deserves to be in the squad. If that means Afridi misses out, then so be it.

The squad for the 2nd ODI was pretty close to what I think it should be, with maybe Hameed coming in for Malik/Farhat/Hafeez

7 overs, 1 wicket, 37 runs, for a econ. rate of 5.28 is good bowling from sami?

When was the last time Afridi had one good performance. The selectors stuck with him even though he has been in miserable form for a long time now. Drop him for two games and everyone is after the selectors for dropping Afridi.

That one wicket was a bad ball which would have been a wide down legside if Chanderpaul had not gone after it.

In fact, if Sami had bowled with some discipline early on when Rana was bowling well from one end, we might have won that game.

What are you talking about? The ball was outside off stump and he tried to flick it to leg. The first thing you are taught about batting is if you see a ball outside off....PLAY OUTSIDE OFF!!!!

And if Afridi can't play the ball on his merit and has to play premeditated than this is not the level of cricket he should be playing on.

He didn't make runs. He made one knock, that does not warrant a spot. BTW, isn't he in the team for his bowling? Whats your excuse for that? Face it, Rehman is performing better than him right now with the ball and Afiridi does not add anything with the bat....therefore logical thing is too play Rehman.

Please compare that to rao and razzaq's bowling because sami should not be the made scapegoat for the defeat when certain other players failed dismally, e.g afridi, rao and farhat.

Afridi might play in his hometown.. they might give him another chance to show himself... otherwise its back to getting in form in domestic cricket.

Afridi after playing 200 plus ODI's, yes more then 200 ODI's is getting worst. That right there is an understatement when talking about Afridi. If he was playimg his lets say 100th ODI I would have undersatood the excuse of him being shifted up and down the order or his bowling loosing some of its bite. But he has played more then 50 ODI's just as an opener. I mean seriously if there is anyone to blame it is Afridi. Forget the talent he is by far one of the senior most guys in the ODI team. This is what we should expect from someone who has played 200 ODI's? His experience alone should have been enough by now to put in decent consistant performances. Look at all the other players who have played 200 ODI's as either a batsman, bowler or an all-rounder and compare them to Afridi and tell me if you can find a match.

Afridi should not have played in this series at all because Pakistan had nothing to gain from his playing here.
Now what if he fails again in Karachi? Will the team selection still select him for SAF?
I believe that the SAF ODI squad should be Pakistan's World Cup squad.

its all about form and he seems to be struggling at the moment however I am sure that he will come round for the world cup. Its not as if he is the only one struggling. as for sami he bowled pretty well considering what happened to razzaq and rao.

two knocks actually, do you even know my views on Afridi being brought back after performing in one game? I thought it was stupid!!



In Afridi terminology, swinging wildly at every ball is considered not playing sensibly. That shot he played wasnt to hit a six, it was to try and rotate the strike. He'd been promoted to open so that he could give the team a blazing start not so that he could stand around watching the ball sail past his off stump. Silly shot? Maybe but when someone's been sent out to pinch hit then they usually have to try unorthodox stuff.



And you're basing that on the full 2 overs are you or are you only counting one of the two overs he bowled??

I hope some sense will prevail and Duck Duck Afridi and Melcolm Sami are dropped. Abdul Rehman is the future and we needed a specialist wicket taking spinner in our bowling line up for ODIs. Farhat and Hafeez should also be persisted on top. Though I am Malik's big fan but he shd be dropped to make him realize that he hasnt become untouchable or indispensable for team Pakistan.

1. Hafeez
2. Farhat
3. Yasir
4. Yusuf
5. Inzi
6. Abdul
7. Kami
8. Rana
9. Gul
10. Rao
11. Rehman

He doesn't look 31 and if he is 31 then he's very healthy and fit for 31, Look at Shoaib and camparing him against Shoaib and see if he looks 31. By the way Shoaib is 31. People will now say Shoaib is 35.

i personally like afridi playing in every match .. hoping that he will play one of those 15 balls 50s or 36 ball 100 .. but pakistan cant keep hoping in give up a free wicket everytime .. would still prefer him to play ... and open . i want him to play eevry match until he retires again .... soo pakistan would jst hav to hope everytime

I think Afridi is late 27 or early 28 at most. When he debuted as a 16 year old he didnt look any older than 18 at the very most

i hope afridi plays the last ODI.. karachi is his home ground.. maybe he can fire.. **god knows** ..

what did rehman do wrong that he got dropped. Afridi like it or not has been a failure for too long and there are no signs he is coming out of it. He doesn't even hit the odd six anymore either. His fielding has been horrendous and his bolwing average at best.

OK, fair enough, he'd gone through a bad patch, so they dropped him. But then after 1 or 2 decent performances in domestic cricket, he got picked again. And now after one failure he may be getting dropped again..... it's crazy.

Rehman wasnt dropped, he was rested because he's made his claim for the trip to SA where he will have to prove he's worth taking to the WC!

Ahh my bad, I didn't realize it was two knocks. You should have said that from the start!!! Surely that warrants a spot in any international team.


There are proper ways to rotate teh strike. Possibly not flicking a ball outside off stump? He was there to give the team a blazing start? So what does leaving balls outside off stump have anything to do with blazing start?

Pinch hit? Lets blame Woolmer again. You seem to know how team management thinks and there every move despite not being there. He was not there to pinch hit. If he was there to pinch hit, he would have been in a much more agressive manner. Its Afridi, we all know how he plays when he pinch hits. ITs not too long before he takes ATLEAST ONE waft at the ball. In this innings, there wasn't even one....just left the ball outside off. Hmmmmmmm that sounds like a pinch hitter to me!


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Ok, I possibly can be prematurely judging here. HOwever, I stick to my point. Afridi is in the team for his bowling, and his batting is not much of a addition recently. Now, how can you play him, over a guy who is bowling at 2 runs per over and taking wickets? You can't, that defies simple logic. Even Duncan Fletcher will admit he play Rehman over Afridi.

Just look at it like a balancing scale. The right side has Rehman. Who is in good bowling form, better thn Afridi and showed some potential with the bat to become a decent tailender or lower order bat. The left side has AFridi, who as of now is nowhere near Rehman in terms of bowling. His batting is worst than Umar Guls. I might almost go as far as feeling more confident with Danish a bat in his hand! The right side clearly outweighs the left side.


And I am tired of this lets blame team management tatic. Oh they do not utilise him properly. No, when they give him a opportunity to prove himself...he just fails. Why blame team management for the amount of chances they given him? Maybe its time to realize Afridi is human and that he must be accountible for his own actions.

We need to win this final ODI now. No chances, play our best team available.

he should get 1 last chance tomorow

the karachi pitch is as flat as pancakes accordign to cricinfo!!!

Can you stop replying to what you think I'm saying and reply to what I'm actually saying instead!



Why open with Afridi when Farhat ahd Hafeez have been your established pair and Hameed is in the same team? Face it Pakistan would never open with Afridi unless they wanted a blazing start!



Again you ignore the fact that I was against him coming back to the team based on one match!!



Yet he always seems to be blamed for any defeat if he's one of the players playing, the perfect scapegoat!

I thought I was doing that throughout this topic! Just that last bit is my on a random tanget, the rest of my post replies to yours quite well.


Well seeing as how they were experimenting, they obviously wanted to give Afridi a chance. They probaly thought, well seeing as he just made a 91 ball 100, maybe he has matured. Maybe he can bat a bit more sensibly.

On top of that, they also wanted to see how Hafeez would cope down the order.


Why are we arguing than? I think your original argument was Afridi being misused and how he was made to open. However, he was given yet another opportunity and did not use it. So why blame them for making him open? Why not hold AFridi accountible for his stupid shot? (that is what I am getting at. It seems in your posts you are blaming team management for making Afridi open. Maybe i am wrong, but why don't you tell em exactly what is your point.)


Now I am saying can you stop replying to what you think I'm saying and reply to what I'm actually saying instead!

anyone got any news?
would love for him to play and get a decent score

Go Afridi ... entertain the Karachi crowd