Afridi Announces Retirement

[flibbertyjibber]

He'll be back as soon as Jabba the Butt has gone.

 

[salman85]

Just so everyone else knows,If Afridi comes back,we're winning the 2015 WC :

1987 - Knocked Out in the Semis of a WC hosted by the subcontinent.
The captain retires afterwards.

The captain comes back.

1992 - The same captain leads us to victory in a world cup hosted in Australia and Newzealand.

And noww...

2011 - Knocked out in the semis of a WC hosted by the subcontinent
The captain retires afterwards.

2015 - The same captain leads us to victory in the world cup hosted by Australia and NZ.

Yes.You heard it here first.Congratulations to my fellow Pakistanis in advance

 

[angad]

He is blaming management/players from Punjab for all this on live TV, using terms like Baigharat (dishonourable). I don't think he will play cricket for Pakistan ever again if he has already started province politics on TV.

 

[Xuhaib]

brilliant Butt vs Afridi two idiots finally meet their match ideally both can **** off realistically even one will do

 

[Furball]

brilliant Butt vs Afridi two idiots finally meet their match ideally both can **** off realistically even one will do

Regardless of whether or not you like Afridi, Pakistani cricket needs him. He's exactly the captain Pakistan need.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

I would prefer if Butt goes instead of Afridi.

 

[Gooch20]

we need Afridi's bowling/fielding. i think it was a good decision to select some other captian, but we still need him as a bowler and fielder

 

[Jono]

win win situation for us.Afridi is no yousuf,younis or even shoaib he's mainstream finally we might have public pressure and Butt gets removed,on the other hand if bigbutt gets his way then finally can get rid of the ******. Still massive lol on the news.

From the period of say 1999 til Shoaib's retirement, was Afridi really bigger than Shoaib in Pakistan?

Genuinely curious. Two controversial larger than life characters who underachieved. Just wondering who was loved more.

 

[Fusion]

From the period of say 1999 til Shoaib's retirement, was Afridi really bigger than Shoaib in Pakistan?

Genuinely curious. Two controversial larger than life characters who underachieved. Just wondering who was loved more.

I would say Afridi. He was a constant in the ODI team, as opposed to Shoaib who missed a lot of time. More visibility = more fans. Plus, as much as a dumb ass as Afridi was/is, he still wasn't considered as polarizing as Shoaib. Love him or hate him, Afridi has an image of always giving his best for Pakistan and trying his hardest to win (even resorting to cheating to do so!). Shoaib's perception (amongts his detractors, myself being one) is that he was selfish and didn't always place team first. Shoving the immensely respected Bob Woolmer also lost Shoaib a lot of respect. Don't get me wrong, Shoaib still commands his legion of fans, but I don't think his popularity ever compared with Afridi's.

 

[Andre]

It's a real shame for cricket though if it is a permanent retirement. I gotta put my hand up here, I'm a massive fan of him as a cricketer and reckon he's made a really good captain in a tough environment.

Once people took heed of the fact that his batting was a bonus rather than his livelihood it was pretty clear that he was one of the best short-form bowlers going around the last few years.

 

[TumTum]

He'll be back.

 

[Spark]

OMG you know what Zulqarnain Haider put? I ****ing spazzed myself:
"I HATE IJAZ BUTT. BECAUSE OF HIM AFRIDI RETIRES. LETS ALL SAY TO IJAZ BUTT.
**** YOUUUUUUUUU GO DIE YOU OLD PRICK"

Magnificent.

 

[Xuhaib]

From the period of say 1999 til Shoaib's retirement, was Afridi really bigger than Shoaib in Pakistan?

Genuinely curious. Two controversial larger than life characters who underachieved. Just wondering who was loved more.

cricket lost half of its popularity once Wasim,Waqar ad then finally Inzi went Shoaib and Afridi were the last link to the glory boys. Pakistan is a largely conservative society hence Shoaib's bad boy persona was usually looked down upon ofcourse those who understand test cricket (minority) understands the importance of an inform Shoaib but largely the big majority fan base took to Afridi and he was undoubtedly the face of Pakistan cricket, Aamer for a brief while threatened him but the spot fixing gate happened too soon for him.

 

[Xuhaib]

Regardless of whether or not you like Afridi, Pakistani cricket needs him. He's exactly the captain Pakistan need.

no not really Misbah has shown a non controversial yes man can work equally well.

 

[salman85]

brilliant Butt vs Afridi two idiots finally meet their match ideally both can **** off realistically even one will do

One of the idiots is arguably Pakistan's best captain in the last 10 years.

Yeah.We should definitley celebrate him not playing for Pakistan.

 

[Jono]

I would say Afridi. He was a constant in the ODI team, as opposed to Shoaib who missed a lot of time. More visibility = more fans. Plus, as much as a dumb ass as Afridi was/is, he still wasn't considered as polarizing as Shoaib. Love him or hate him, Afridi has an image of always giving his best for Pakistan and trying his hardest to win (even resorting to cheating to do so!). Shoaib's perception (amongts his detractors, myself being one) is that he was selfish and didn't always place team first. Shoving the immensely respected Bob Woolmer also lost Shoaib a lot of respect. Don't get me wrong, Shoaib still commands his legion of fans, but I don't think his popularity ever compared with Afridi's.

cricket lost half of its popularity once Wasim,Waqar ad then finally Inzi went Shoaib and Afridi were the last link to the glory boys. Pakistan is a largely conservative society hence Shoaib's bad boy persona was usually looked down upon ofcourse those who understand test cricket (minority) understands the importance of an inform Shoaib but largely the big majority fan base took to Afridi and he was undoubtedly the face of Pakistan cricket, Aamer for a brief while threatened him but the spot fixing gate happened too soon for him.

Interesting. I always thought Shoaib was the biggest star (though obviously knew Afridi was massive).

Thanks fellas.

 

[Xuhaib]

One of the idiots is arguably Pakistan's best captain in the last 10 years.

Yeah.We should definitley celebrate him not playing for Pakistan.

its insult to Inzi and to Pakistan cricket to call Afridi our best captain for last 10 years when he ran away after just one test, tactically he's very average respect him as an odi bowler not much else.

 

[vcs]

I thought Afridi might be one of the most talked about Pakistani cricketers (in a polarizing sense) but never knew he commanded so much popularity there so as to be thought of as the face of Pakistan cricket. Interesting.

 

[Xuhaib]

Afridi has had his problems with Waqar and | will always back Waqar in this just like trhe bufoon Butt is doing. When he took charge there constant grouping in the team Pakistan was not allowed to play any home cricket which made i difficult for youngsters to bed in his 2 best fast bowlers and captain got banned for the most punishable cricketing offense majority of the time he plays withoutt his 2 best batsman and he had a wicketkeeper who dropped more then he took.

Despite all this he has won 3 away odi series lost 2 tight ones which went to the last game has a 5-5 test match record all away from home and took the team to a world cup semi final.Yes Misbah and Afridi have played their parts but Waqar is the only constant factor over here surely Pakistan is still far off to be a top 5 test match side but has been able to keep them competive on the field and controversy free off it.

 

[salman85]

its insult to Inzi and to Pakistan cricket to call Afridi our best captain for last 10 years when he ran away after just one test, tactically he's very average respect him as an odi bowler not much else.

It's not an insult to call Afridi our best captain in the last 10 years when he was the only one who truly united the team and there were no spats or divisions within the camp as we had seen previously.Even during Inzi's time,there were well documented spats between Younis Khan,Afridi,Shoaib etc.

None of that took place under Afridi.He was incharge of one of the weakest teams we've had in the last 20- odd years,perhaps even THE weakest.Inzi,Waqar,Shoaib,Younis,they all had much stronger teams at their disposal.Afridi didn't.Yet the results he gathered were very impressive,also,he led from the front,but most importantly,he made the team play like a UNIT.None of our captains since Imran have managed to do that.

Stop looking for reasons to downplay Afridi.If you're going to give Waqar the credit for everything,then you might as well hold him accountable for not keeping a check on Asif,Amir and Butt.All of that,is just not true.Waqar has made Gul a much improved bowler,Wahab Riaz has learned a lot,but to say that Waqar is the one responsible for our performances is stupid.Our performances have been down to team spirit,a large part of which is down to Afridi.