There is no denying
that Shahid Afridi is one of Pakistan’s most iconic cricketers. Since his
retirement from international cricket, Afridi largely escaped controversy until
the launch of his autobiography.
Since his book launch,
Boom Boom Afridi has remained in headlines and faced backlash and criticism
from many former cricketers, analysts and experts.
The most recent person
to bash Shahid Afridi is actor Kashif Mehmood, who has criticized him for being
made a national hero which ultimately led to the downfall of Pakistan cricket.
In a video message,
Kashif Mehmood used harsh words to convey his message. He explained that Shahid
Afridi was not a great cricketer and giving him the status of a national hero
has ruined a lot of young cricketers who want to follow in his footsteps.
He drew a comparison
with India and said:
“We
all wonder why does India produce good batsmen or for that matter why we bring
forward good fast bowlers. India made Sunil Gavaskar their ‘God father’ who was
technically very sound, he was idealized by Tendulkar who then became India’s
ultimate hero and then came Virat Kohli and so and so.”
Kashif explained that
Pakistan’s bowling department has always succeded because Pakistan the bar was
set by likes of Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.
“We
made Imran Khan our icon of fast bowling and even know with cricket in its dire
state we have managed to produce Shaheen Afridi.”
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Reverting back to
Pakistan’s batting and making Afridi a national hero on the basis of ‘if Afridi
hits’, he said:
“In
cricketing terms, we use the word ‘Darra’ for such batting. There are no if and
buts in cricket. Had we made Inzamam-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yusuf, our
heroes, cricket would be alot different.”
He went a step forward
and said that Shahid Afridi’s 37-ball hundred did not help Pakistan cricket but
butchered it since young players want to play aggressive cricket like Afridi
and aren’t focusing on being technically sound players.
“I’m
not against Shahid Afridi, I’ve never met him but this is my analysis that we
made that cricketer our hero who might be a very good human being but certainly
not a good cricketer.”
Do you agree with Kashif
Mehmood? Let us know in the comments section below.
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