Kanpur again to host an ODI between India and Pakistan

Remember this?

In 75 minutes of unbelievable power-hitting, Shahid Afridi swung his bat, the match and the series as Pakistan romped home to a comprehensive five-wicket win at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur. Having restricted India to 249, thanks mainly to Naved-ul-Hasan's incisive opening spell, Pakistan rode on Afridi's 45-ball hundred, the second-fastest in one-day internationals, and made a fighting total look paltry.

In the searing afternoon heat of Kanpur, Afridi's carnage brought a downpour of sixes. The arc between midwicket and long-on received maximum attention as bowlers were left gasping, fielders hopeless and spectators expectant. Within three overs the total rocketed from nine to 55, the stunning part being that there was a maiden in between. Good-length balls outside off were swatted to the roof of the midwicket stand, anything full disappeared, anything short was pummelled and anything wide savaged. It couldn't be termed slogging, it wasn't calculated, and it certainly wasn't a fluke. Forces of nature are probably impossible to explain.

He plundered bowlers before they could settle in. Lakshmipathy Balaji's second over, and Anil Kumble's and Dinesh Mongia's first were pillaged for more than 20 runs each. His howitzered swat over midwicket off Zaheer Khan in the eighth over was his 200th six in one-dayers, and he blasted his way to a fifty off 20 balls. Salman Butt was reduced to a blur at the other end and bowlers' line and length were rendered redundant. Afridi charged to his hundred in 45 balls, equalling Brian Lara's record for the second-fastest hundred. If his 102 at Nairobi in 1997 - still the fastest in ODIs - had introduced him to the world, his 102 today just reaffirmed that he remains one of the most destructive elements in the cricket world.

Ironically, he was out while attempting his first defensive stroke, as the ball ricocheted off his boot onto the stumps, but by then he had all but ensured that Pakistan took an unassailable lead in the series. While he was at the crease, Pakistan were rattling along at 9.14 runs an over and Shoaib Malik and the rest were left with the smoothest of cruises to complete. Mohammad Kaif pulled off a sensational catch to dismiss Yousuf Youhana, diving full length while running back from cover, but it was never going to influence the final outcome.

Earlier in the day Naved had played a big part in keeping India to below 250 as he left the top order in tatters in the initial stages. Sachin Tendulkar hardly got the width or length to break free in his first nine deliveries before he was undone by a beauty: unsure of whether to play forward or back he pushed at one that left him a shade and took the edge en route to Kamran Akmal behind the stumps. Virender Sehwag was confronted with a delivery of similar venom but opposite seam movement, and he played outside the line and stood transfixed as the ball crashed into his off stump.

And just when the situation demanded a cautious approach, Mahendra Singh Dhoni swished and swung, connected a few, fended a few and finally edged one to Younis Khan at second slip. India were 26 for 3 after seven overs with the bowlers on top, the pitch showing signs of variable bounce and all the batsmen struggling against controlled swing and cut. It was almost as if India were playing a Test abroad and, almost inevitably, Dravid entered his battling zone. Soon defence turned to single hunting, gliding and efficiently flicking in the gaps, and gradually it turned into controlled acceleration, with the odd boundary poached and ones turned into twos. When he finally fell, in the last over of the innings, he had taken India from a perilous position to a competitive total. In short, he had completed a job that he has mastered doing day after day in Test cricket over the last four years.

Kaif proved to be the perfect foil. Where the rest of the batsmen struggled against a combination of superb bowling and a semi-dodgy pitch, Kaif appeared completely at home on the ground where he learnt his cricket. Flicking effortlessly, finding the narrowest of gaps in the field, forever bubbling and zooming between the wickets, he went about rebuilding with minimum risk. With the field spread, both he and Dravid upped the rate at the 35-over mark and rattled off 59 runs in the 7.2 overs before Kaif fell.

At that stage, scoring at eight runs an over appeared to be a fantastic display. A few hours later, Afridi started rollicking along at more than 20 an over while producing an innings that even superlative adjectives would fail to describe.

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and also how the hecka a Pakistani cricket fan can forget this?



Everything is rendered meaningless. The pitch, the field, the captain, the bowler, strategies, bowling changes, opening partners, the nervous nineties, traditional thought ... everything goes, such is Shahid Afridi's joyous disregard for convention.

When India instigated a stirring fightback late in the morning to eke out 249 on a suspiciously (and thankfully) unODI-like pitch, the target held fears. Low bounce, a bit of grip, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh in tandem, new captain - game on. Pakistan's start, we said, would be crucial. A breezy fifty here, maybe with a cameo from Afridi, and it could get interesting. But Afridi rendered it all irrelevant.

Two initial overs were played out with decorum, nine runs were scored respectfully. Then madness broke out. Afridi first picked up Lakshmipathy Balaji off his shins over square leg. A couple of balls later, a dextrous flick in the same area brought another four. Balaji adjusted his radar, pitching the next ball straighter. He'll block it, I thought. Afridi disagreed, picking it up straight but dizzyingly high. Aha! Caught at mid-off then? But the ball kept going, reaching higher and travelling further still. He was indeed caught - but by the ballboy two yards behind the boundary. To conclude the over, he part-slashed, part-drove past point; no-one saw the ball until it crashed into the boundary boards.

OK, so far, so normal. A breezy cameo 20 meets an abrupt end. Ah, here comes Anil Kumble, bringing with him three options for Afridi: stumped, bowled, or caught slicing between mid-off and cover. The first ball was directed over and beyond square leg. Well, it was a waist-high full-toss, and got what it deserved. Soon he will perish. Next ball, Afridi showed us his unique interpretation of the sweep. The ball looped outside off, fullish, so Afridi bent down and, with a cross-batted flick, sent it over midwicket.

Kumble went round the wicket to bring the ugly miscued, sliced slog to mid-off's hands into play. All went to plan, except someone forgot to factor in Afridi's forearms. The shot sailed over long-off, landing and dribbling to the fence. When he stepped out next ball to lift, casually, between long-on and midwicket for a fourth six, finally we sensed that something might be up.

He soon pushed Zaheer Khan for - hold your breath - an utterly orthodox defensive push down the ground for four and something was indeed up: his 50, off 20 balls. Until then Zaheer had avoided the carnage, but Afridi disregarded the fact that the next ball was on a good length, and sent it soaring over midwicket. It was his 200th six, in 204 one-day matches.

And on he went, smashing everything and everyone. Dinesh Mongia, who we all thought might do a bit, was greeted, mockingly, with a forward defensive. The next ball landed atop the shamiana [tent] enclosure where the Pakistani fans were seated at long-on, and it brought the team 100 up in the 10th over. The rest of his innings, before and after, will be remembered as a blur, a flurry of unreal machismo.

What happened? Fields were changed, maybe, and I think bowlers were too. Did some balls turn? Others may have bounced awkwardly or gripped dangerously, but so what? Afridi remained Afridi, disregarding. Occasionally, between balls, he would diligently practise a defensive stroke, elbow high and straight, stance upright ... and then forget about all that as the next ball came down. The nineties, usually so tense, were barely considered: the ten most vital runs in batting traversed uncaringly, with three fours and a couple of singles somewhere among them.

One image will remain, of absolute tranquillity amid the chaos: Afridi, standing at the non-striker's end, in the 14th over, as he approached his 100, gloves off, both arms swinging freely. Was he keeping them loose? Or was he pausing for breath, taking stock maybe as he contemplated what turned out to be the joint-second-fastest 100 in ODI history (he already owns the fastest)? More likely he was allowing us to pause for breath and take stock of what we were witnessing.

The hundred arrived - his fourth in all, but his first in exactly three years - with his tenth four soon afterwards to go with nine sixes. The very next ball, cynically disproving those who tell him to pay heed to defence occasionally, he was bowled, prodding forward to Harbhajan Singh. He'd faced 46 balls for 102; his opening partner Salman Butt - yes, he was also playing - made 21 in the same number of balls. When Afridi left, the match withered. It became meaningless, it became conventional ... we lost interest and didn't really care how it would end. For 75 minutes, we didn't watch cricket, we watched Shahid Afridi toying with it.

Osman Samiuddin is a freelance cricket writer based in Karachi. He is following the Pakistan team through their tour of India.

© Cricinfo

sweet sweet memories ... not just from Afridi but from the way Rana bowled too. it was quality fast bowling... real shame the way Rana fell away from 2006 onwards, real shame

I don't see any point in posting this article as I am sure people have already discussed this when this happened. I'd rather talk about the WC 92 that Pakistan won to bring back the highest point in Pakistan's history. This is only individual achievement and even then if we want to talk about individual achievement then I'd rather talk about Afridi's fastest hundred since I didn't get a chance to see that won.

Party Pooper!

what a day this was. as Osman Samiuddin so rightly put it, Afridi toyed with cricket that day. Will never forget this for as long as I live.

I remember watching his innings live, will remain with me for the rest of my life. It was absolute carnage, I remember a comment that Rameez Raja made when Afridi hit a six onto one of the shamianas of one of the stands and they were struggling to get it down with a stick. He said:

"The ball doesn't want to come down, because it has got a beating of its lifetime"

Whatever.

No way! NO WAY! I am gonna be in Kanpur at that time! OMG OMG OMG! OMG YES! YES! WOO HOO! My first cricket match at a ground ever, here I COME!

This is better then Harry Potter, I tell you!

Kanpur Massacre, wasnt this the match in which Ravi Shastri first called Afridi, Shahid "Boom Boom" Afridi?

This was some match....... even I remember being in pakistan at that time and watching it there!! it was quite memorable!!

Great memory.........

'The Kanpur Massacre', great name for it.

What made it even better were the faces of the the individuals in the crowd.

Well if you wanna post that go ahead and do that no one will ask you whats ur point in doing so Go Lala