Stat-Attack #3 - What to Expect from Shahid Afridi!

Hafeez, Younis Khan, Misbah, Razzaq, Ajmal, Umar Gul, Shoaib Akthar - Note down these 7 names before I begin my Stat-Attack# 3.

 

This Stat-Attack is going to concentrate on how to pick a Winner just by one factor i.e The Captain (In this case Shahid Afridi of Pakistan). I am someone who is always against picking Captains just by their Celebrity status. Pakistan board has done it again by picking Afridi for the Australia Series (Or do they have any other choice!).

Afridi has captained Pakistan in 34 ODIS. He has won 18, Lost 15 and 1 match ended with No Result. If you consider only the stronger teams (Removing matches against Bangladesh, Canada, Kenya and Zimbabwe) the Win-Loss ratio translates to 14:15. The West Indies team have been performing poorly for the past decade. Against them he has a Win-Loss ratio of 5:2. If I remove these figures too, then the Win-Loss ratio stands at 9:13.

His T20 performance also mirrors his ODI performance. He has a 8:12 WL ratio.

Coming back to the first line of the article. Throughout the period Afridi captained Pakistan (2009-2011), all the 7 players contributed heavily in the wins. While coming to the losses some of these were missing in many of these matches [There is only one match where 6 of these played together, Pakistan lost]. The notable exclusions are Misbah and Younis in Batting, Gul and Ajmal in Bowling. Whenever these players were missing the corresponding department failed heavily and jeopardized the team's cause.

In the current squad announced against Australia now Ajmal, Hafeez, Younis are missing. They may spring surprises with their Bowling department, but the batting department looks completely empty. With a Captain like Afridi, I think it is better to side always with the opposition. He is not a Captain who can inspire this sort of a team given to him towards victories. Afridi himself is a batsman who never understands what the present scenario of the match and how he should bat. Same way while bowling too, if you take any Pakistani Captain, they try over bowl themselves and Afridi is no exception.

Note:
Afridi is only the captain for T20s. This article is written with the idea that he may be handed over with the ODI Captainship also.