Shahid Khan Afridi
Shahid Afridi, Pakistan's allrounder, is as enigmatic a player as there ever was. He
came as a 16-year-old into the Pakistan ODI squad and was unfazed by all the
speculation regarding his real age. In only his second ODI against Sri Lanka in
1996, he blasted his way to a 37-ball century. For more than 17 years, it
remained the fastest century in the ODI format before Corey Anderson broke the
record in January 2014. Afridi's sparkling ton came
after he was sent in as a pinch-hitter at one drop and after being picked in
the team as a leg-spinner to replace the injured Mushtaq
Ahmed
For the next few years, Afridi's batting took prominence after hitting that ton. He
soon became a crowd-puller for just his eccentric batting. As entertaining as
it was to the viewers, it sometimes proved to be infuriating to his teammates.
His then captain, Wasim Akram,
had repeatedly asked him not to throw his wicket away, but nothing could change
Afridi's ways. This reckless streak extended to the
highest format, the Test matches, and he was quickly sorted out by his
opponents. After having some limited success in the longest format, Afridi quickly realized that he lacked the temperament for
the same and announced his retirement from Tests in 2006, after having played
just 26 games.
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