Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Afridi at the Helm Again!

Just about a month and ten days ago, Shahid Afridi led Pakistan for the first time in an international match.

It was a twenty20 against Sri Lanka that Pakistan easily won.

Today, Afridi will be at the helm for Pakistan again; only this time it will be an ODI in the Champions Trophy.

Its a key day for Pakistan.

They have an opportunity to get off to a flying start against a weakened West Indies side.

Today marks the possible return of Mohammad Asif to international cricket after over a year.

Most importantly, today Shahid Afridi leads Pakistan's ODI side for the first time ever.

He may very well be doing it in 2011, and tonight's game against the West Indies will give us a glimpse of Afridi the captain.

A bit more than what we caught during the T20 against Sri Lanka last month.

I have always had a lot of faith in Afridi; not only the player but the leader as well.

Those of you who follow Well Pitched regularly know this quite well.

Just because of that, today is a huge day.

For Pakistan, for Mohammad Asif, for Shahid Afridi, and for me as well.

I consider myself as Afridi's biggest supporter and watching him lead Pakistan in a crucial game, and that too for the first time, will probably make me very nervous.

But I cannot wait for him to walk out for the toss and make an impression, the way he has done so for many years on the domestic circuit.

Make your pitch on this post...



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10 Pitched:

  1. BiLo said...
     

    It certainly will be a challenge for Pakistan today. Especially Afridi! He's been eager to lead Pakistan for a while and this is his chance. Though I was never able to even conceive such a proposition of Afridi leading the Pakistan side, but he's certainly come of age, attitude and importantly maturity.
    It will be interesting to see what he thinks of himself in the batting line up. OPENER or No. 6!!

  2. straight point said...
     

    lets see if he can keep attention for 100 overs span as a skip...

    btw if todays game is crucial then what you will say about the game against india?!! ;-)

  3. Anonymous said...
     

    No I'm his biggest supporter

  4. More Than Just A Game said...
     

    Afridi is quite a street-smart fellow. I'm curious to see 2 things:

    1. Field placements and changes for specific batsmen. Due to my VAST knowledge of the current WI batsmen, I feel we might not learn much in the first game

    2. How he utilizes himself as a bowler. I feel that this aspect of his talent is very under-utilized .

    We've got our (extensive) Group A preview at our site. Will be very cool to know your thoughts/views/critique.

    morethanjustagame.wordpress.com

  5. Wasim said...
     

    There was no reason to pull Aamer out of attack so early and also no reason to bring himself so early on, he should also not have bowled 8.3 overs especially when he was going for more runs than any other bowler. I think a bit of poor field placement and poor bowling changes failed Pakistan to finish off West indies at less than 100.

  6. Q said...
     

    Bilo,

    Afridi is definitely one for the lower order in ODIs.. for T20Is he can play higher up.

    And uve said it right about his attitude.

  7. Q said...
     

    SP,

    He didn't need to.. he just needed to for 60 overs ;-)

    As for the Pak-Ind game.. that's maha crucial!

  8. Q said...
     

    Humaira,

    Nai, I am!

  9. Q said...
     

    Sujith,

    The field placings were spot on but I felt he should have continued with the pacers instead of bringing himself on when he did.

    I feel during the initial part of his career his bowling was underutilized, but in recent times he has been used very well by his captains..

  10. Q said...
     

    Wasim,

    I agree.

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