Has Shahid Afridi lost the boom boom factor? Is Captaincy taking the better of him?

Remember the days when cricket lovers all over the world would anxiously wait for Shahid Khan Afridi to step on the batting crease? The crowd would roar and cheer for him to hit sixes and fours, and Afridi, well he would usually respond by hitting a massive six or four on the very first ball he faced.

Where is that natural pinch hitter boom boom Afridi gone? Since Shahid Afridi has become the Captain of the Pakistan side, his batting performance seems to have deteriorated significantly. He appears to be banking on his record-breaking past of holding the highest career strike rate in the history of international cricket and also the record of the fastest century in a one-day international against Kenya in 1996 on his debut.  

Very few people know that Afridi started his career as a leg-spinner, playing once as a replacement for injured Mushtaq Ahmed. However, he immediately caught the eye of the team management, selectors and the then captain with his brilliant record-breaking century in his debut innings against Kenya.  He was consequently promoted to an opener position and he started opening the innings for Pakistan with Saeed Anwar.

His aggressive and attacking batting style earned him the name of “Boom boom Afridi”. He is known to change the mood of the audience with his massive hitting. However, his rash style of batting has increased the risk of him getting out early and has made him the most inconsistent batsmen in the team. Also, his lack of patience and good temperament hasn’t allowed him to stay longer at the crease. This is reflected by the fact that he is the only player to score more than 6000 runs in one-day internationals at an average of just under 25 runs.

According to many cricket analysts, Shahid Afridi performs brilliantly on the Subcontinent’s flat pitches but struggles on the bouncy tracks. During the past decade (2000-2010), Afridi performed best with the bat and ball in 2005 while on the tours of India, West Indies and England. But 2007 proved to be disastrous for him in terms of his batting as he failed in the World T-20 then. Nonetheless, he compensated for it by his great bowling, earning him the man of series award.

This year also, his performance as a batsman in ODIs has again been quite ordinary; he seems uncomfortable at the crease and usually gets dismissed within the first few overs that he faces. The only exception was the tour of Sri Lanka, where he managed to score two centuries. However, rest of the year so far has been an utter disappointment.

Even though he has toned down his aggression but still his batting cannot be called ‘risk-free’ as he manages to get dismissed early yet again.

The only rationale that one can put forward for Afridi’s recent less “boom boom” performance with the bat is that he is facing added pressure of Captaincy, which might be taking the better of him.

Also, he has been captaining a side that is going through one of its toughest and biggest challenges of surviving the spot-fixing allegations. The morale of players, management and the Captain himself must be really low, so to perform well in such a circumstance is a very difficult task as Afridi has the burden of holding the team together and carrying them forward, while also trying to excel his performance on the field.

Having said that, Shahid Afridi is one of his own kind; there has truly been none like him in the world of cricket. His temptation of slogging every ball that comes his way has been his basic trait which keeps the crowd at the edge of their seats and also leaves the opponents flabbergasted. Whenever Afridi comes to bat, the bowling side has absolutely no idea as to where they should place their fielders as Afridi’s style of batting is oh-so unpredictable.