THE OTHER SIDE: Shahid Afridi

Countdown 2018 #2

As the year progressed change which is constant happened. Union budget in India first time in the history merged with Railway budget and also it was presented on 1st February instead of the practice of presenting it in last week of February. ISRO touched another milestone by successfully launching 104 satellites into orbit another first by Indian Space Agency. A political thriller was triggered in Tamil Nadu with elevation of Sasikala as AIADMK president, then CM O. Paneerselvam resigned from the post and the party was almost divided in to two fractions. Governor of state ruled against Paneerselvam. Later a new CM K.Palaniswami is elected as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.

Famous Pakistani Cricketer Shahid Afridi announced his retirement from international cricket and this time it was final unlike his earlier announcements which he took back. In March Legislative assembly election results were announced and Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar has to leave his post to serve as Chief Minister of Goa. Sudden death of actor Vinod Khanna in April shocked the entire nation because he was among the fittest star of his time who never seen ill by his fans. Reema Lago famous Bollywood mother of 90’s also died in May. Rift in Aam Aadmi party grew stronger with another member Kapil Mishra left the party with corruption allegations on Arvind Kejriwal. It was seen as a gimmick before MCD elections of Delhi which in some way help opposition parties to do better than AAP.

Ramnath Kovind became President of India defeating Meera Kumari who was the opposition candidate. Gorkhaland agitation increased in West Bengal disturbing the state for many months. The agitation forced school, colleges closed in the region. Pakistan won the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 defeating India in the finals. A Muslim Youth Mohammed Junaid was lynched by group of people in train for his religion. Such incidents never stopped since the Modi government came in power. Later in the year in December the hate filled Shambhunath Raiger killed a laborer Mohammad Ashraful on charge of Love Jihad which never happened in Rajsmand district of Rajasthan. The New India projected by Mr Narender Modi is filled with hate against the minorities and dalits which should be strongly denied by the ruling party but they seem supporting such crimes.

Lots more things happened in the year which I will look back in the next post. Good bye. Merry Christmas. God Bless India.

Boom Boom Afridi

Shahid Afridi the evergreen cricketer of Pakistan also retired from the international Cricket. The last cricketer of the 90's generation when I used to watch cricket (now I only watch few Indian matches and IPL) and I think he was the man who changed the dimensions of the cricket. Sanath Jayasuriya was the first man who started utilizing the 15 over Power-play and he also become the perfect exploiter of these overs. However I have not watched him playing many long innings except the one when he scored 37 balls century fastest at that time on his first match. Otherwise he has scored few runs but mostly with boundaries.

He was famous in India too and garnered appreciation for his play and looks when Pakistan team toured India. He was more of a bowler than a batsman. His batting innings were usually short and he got out quickly after scoring few quick runs but as a right arm leg spinner he appeared as a match winner for his team in many occasions. He started pinch hitting which was followed by many cricketers after him. The chants of Boom Boom Afridi were always heard when he was on the pitch not only from his country's supporters but also from the opponent country fans. He always made the match entertaining through ball or with bat.

Now when he retired from the international Cricket at the age of 36 he still remembered for the youngest cricket debut (16 years). He holds many world records and records for his country like :

Highest T20I wicket taker (97)
86.97 among batsmen with more than 25 Test caps he has the best strike rate.
9 Five wicket haul in ODI's which makes him thirs highest with Brett Lee.
Only all-rounder after Jacques Kallis with 10,000 runs and 500 wickets.
Most sixes in international cricket across all formats (476)

With him heroes of the 90's cricket fans have all retired. I will remember him as the cricketer on the field who always brings energy to the game. I wish him good luck in his future endeavors.