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Opinion
When Shaheen Shah Afridi hobbled from the field after bowling just one ball in his third over, Pakistan’s hopes of victory in the T20 World Cup final departed with him.
Afridi’s knee injury, sustained while taking a brilliant catch to remove England’s Harry Brook a few overs prior, was one of those freak moments that completely change the course of big games.
In mere moments, Pakistan went from jubilation at removing the set Brook, with England still more than 50 runs from the target, to despair at the prospect of losing their premier bowler – and perhaps THE premier bowler in world cricket – with two overs still up his sleeve.
To his immense credit, Afridi returned to the field, and prepared to bowl his third over. He’d last just one ball, though, before leaving the field for good, forced to watch on as a suddenly rejuvenated England bashed their way to a straightforward victory thanks to Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali’s heroics.
What is to follow here might be the harshest thing I’ll ever write, and is certainly not meant to criticise Afridi in any way. It wasn’t his fault his batters had left him and his fellow bowlers a paltry total to defend. His catch, and the brilliant inswinger to dismiss the red-hot Alex Hales earlier, had seen him do more than his fair share already.
But Pakistan’s only hope was for Afridi, even an Afridi on one leg and barely making it to the bowling crease, to bowl his last 11 deliveries. For his team to remain any chance, he needed to somehow find a way.
The proof was in the one ball he managed in that third over; stripped of much of his pace, and with only the faintest hint of swing, Afridi was still good enough to hit the perfect length and the perfect line, beating a nervous prod from a still new to the crease Moeen.
This was an MCG wicket that, all day and all tournament, had proved favourable to pace bowling of any description and any speed. Ireland’s bowling attack is hardly express pace, yet a fortnight ago they had inflicted England’s only loss of the tournament at the same venue, by hitting their lines and never wavering.
Is it too much to ask for Afridi to have tried to do the same despite his injury? Yes, absolutely it is. But nevertheless, it was the only way.
As soon as Afridi went off, a pulsating, engrossing contest died virtually instantly. Suddenly, Babar Azam had five overs to get through, and at least two needed to be bowled by spin. In Pakistan’s innings, Shan Masood had showed the dangers of that approach, clubbing Liam Livingstone for 16 off his only over. This wasn’t a deck conducive to slow bowling.
Shaheen Shah Afridi of Pakistan leaves the MCG during the T20 World Cup final. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Making it even tougher was the known strength of Stokes and Moeen at hitting slow bowling down the ground; it has been a crucial part of England’s success this tournament to have such a capable middle order against spin.
Stokes sensed a kill, and went for it; yes, he was lucky to fall only fractionally short of hitting part-timer Iftikhar Ahmed to Babar at long on, but with a four and a six to end the over, the match had turned.
Pakistan had gone from defending 41 off five overs, with Afridi still holding two overs, the brilliant Haris Rauf one and Mohammad Wasim two, to defending 28 off four with another over of spin from Mohammad Nawaz still needed to get through. That very scenario had cost Pakistan dearly in their tournament opener against India, and brought about a significant change to their set-up, bringing Wasim in as a fourth seamer and sacrificing a part of their batting depth.
That surge, kickstarted by five balls from Iftikhar that went for 13 runs, meant Rauf’s final over could be sat on, and the blowtorch applied on young Wasim. England ended up with a full over in hand – but given that over would have needed to be the spin of Nawaz, they probably could have chased another 15 in the end.
Afridi didn’t need to produce anything remarkable. He didn’t need 150 kilometre an hour inswinging yorkers, brutal bouncers, or the sort of incisive, wonderful bowling Naseem Shah had produced earlier to leave Stokes completely bamboozled.
It was an impossible, unfair thing to ask of him – being a fast bowler is already the toughest ask in our sport, let alone when carrying a significant injury to a crucial body part.
No doubt Afridi would have feared costing his side the match by bowling when underdone when he made the decision to pull up stumps. Perhaps it wouldn’t have made any difference if he’d stayed on; perhaps Stokes and Ali would have clobbered him just as they had done Iftikhar.
But the pace-friendly pitch, the game situation, Afridi’s undeniable skill even when on one leg, and the significance of the event – Afridi and Pakistan may never get another chance in his career to play in a T20 World Cup final – plus the lack of backup options available to them, left them with no other choice.
Even if it was bowling off three steps, club-cricket style, he and the team just had to try something, anything, to get through his four overs.
Busted knee or not, Pakistan needed their champion to go above and beyond the call of duty on Sunday night.
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