How will Afridi, the captain, go in Test match cricket
When http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 walked out of the Lord’s pavilion for the first Test match between Australia and Pakistan, he had become the fourth captain after Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf to lead the Pakistani side in a Test match. And if his first day at the office is anything to go by, then one can be rest assured that the Pakistani side is in safe hands.
So what is it that one can expect from the captaincy of Afridi in the longer format of the game?
Guts, Gumption...and hence, glory?
The difference between Afridi and the rest of the captains is what he brings to the table. He can bat, he can bowl, but most importantly, he seems to possess the tendency to unite. The last of these attributes is one of the most important one that a captain who leads Pakistan needs to possess. Especially after all the problems that the side has gone through.
It was very evident from the way things have gone ahead in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 cricket that what they need is to have someone at the top who can stop all the back-biting and the back-stabbing. That has been the one problem that has inflicted Pakistan cricket and that is the issue that Afridi looks like he can resolve.
From the Test match format’s perspective, Pakistan’s batting has been their main issue. It is inexperienced and the other major problem is that the youngsters are not given too many opportunities. As was evident in the Asia Cup, Afridi possesses the ability to shun the orthodox and get in the players whom he believes will deliver at this level.
The other issue that the side faces from time to time is the inconsistency in bowling. The likes of Umar Gul, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif should be enough to send shivers down the spine of the opposition, but their problem is that they tend to start off well but fall apart later.
Afridi is expected to bring the fast bowlers together, in much as the same manner as Imran Khan was able to do when he had taken over as the captain of the side.
Afridi also has the advantage of ensuring that given that he will play as an all-rounder, the side will go into Test matches will a more balanced attack than it would in the past. Abdul Razzaq was their only all-rounder in this format of the game and even he was hardly a Test match bowler.
But Beware...
A note of caution needs to be attached. Afridi’s biggest asset as a captain is the ability to lead from the front. But, to add to that, Test match cricket has hardly been his forte and his statistics exhibit ample evidence. He averages less than 38 in the Tests with the bat, whereas with the ball, it is at 35, but with only 47 wickets to his credit.
Afridi has retired from Test match cricket on one occasion and that has meant that he comes back because he wanted to take control of all the three formats of the game.
It augurs well to begin with, but to expect Afridi to score the runs in this format of the game against attacks of reasonable quality like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 and England, will be expecting too much. So will the taking of wickets, because while in the shorter variety he gets them by throttling the batsmen into not scoring. Test matches are meant to be played that way.
And if he has undergoes a couple of failures here or there, the pressure will be squarely on him.
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