Shock! Shahid Afridi could actually be a good captain

We were quite excited when Shahid Afridi became Pakistan captain. And not because we thought he would be any good. Putting what we thought was the maddest cricketer in the team in charge of cricket's most insane national side looked like a recipe made for disaster (and a bloggers dream).

But the early signs are good. Thanks to a large dose of fortune, Pakistan made the semi-finals of the World T20, but were an inspirational performance from Mike Hussey away from reaching the final.

Then Afridi agreed to rejoin the test side and became official captain of Pakistan. We understand that as part of the deal he insisted that a fit Shoaib Akhtar should be in the squad and that the bans on Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik should be lifted. Afridi seemed to be saying that it was a time to draw a line under all the captaincy problems and player infighting of the last year.

Afridi is even leading moves to persuade Mohammad Yousuf to reverse his retirement in time for the tests against Australia and England. Suddenly, with Younis, Yousuf, Akhtar (if fit) and Shoaib Malik back in the side along with Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Aamer and the Akmal brothers, Pakistan would look like a strong side again.

But how would it work in practise? Well, the opening match in the Asia Cup against hosts Sri Lanka yesterday was promising despite a narrow defeat. The team seemed unified, Akhtar performed at a high level with three for 41 and then Afridi himself showed that captaincy may actually enhance his game with a brilliant 109 off only 76 balls. Afridi's Pakistan certainly went down fighting, which is not something that you could of said of Yousuf's side in Australia.

So, we are prepared to admit that we may have been wrong. Afridi seems to be taking to captaincy like a modern day Mike Brearley. Well, not quite yet. But responsibility seems to sit well with him. England (and Australia) suddenly have some difficult matches ahead of them this summer. 

Comments

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From my own opinion, he can do it and makes things more better.