Shahid Afridi takes guard for another big show at Lord’s

When Eoin Morgan fractured a finger, and had to pull out of the ICC World XI side that will play the Windies in the fund-raising Twenty20 International at Lord’s on 31 May, Shahid Afridi became the automatic choice to replace him as captain.

The World XI team, though studded with fantastic cricketers from around the world, has only a few other players with captaincy experience at the international level – of them, Thisara Perera is the present Sri Lanka T20I captain, while some others like Shoaib Malik and Rashid Khan have led their national teams in the past.

No one with quite the status as Afridi, though, even if has retired internationally.

Afridi has been one of the most enigmatic cricketers in the past couple of decades.

As early as in his first international innings – in his second one-day international appearance – back in October 1996, Afridi slammed a 40-ball 102 against Sri Lanka in Nairobi. The century had come off 37 balls, and it stood as the fastest ODI century for close to two decades before Corey Anderson (36 balls) in January 2014 and AB de Villiers (31 balls) in January 2015 topped it.

Afridi could, however, score only five more centuries in his ODI career spanning 398 matches, which ended with 8064 runs and 395 wickets, fantastic numbers in every way. He also turned out in 27 Tests, hitting 1716 runs and picking up 48 wickets, and played 98 T20Is for 1405 runs and 97 wickets, still a record in the format in men's cricket, over two years since he last played for Pakistan.

The shortest format – Afridi has played 274 T20s overall for 3893 runs and 300 wickets – is perhaps the one where Afridi shone the brightest, especially at the biggest stage. He was named the Player of the Tournament when Pakistan finished runners-up to India in the inaugural ICC World T20 in 2007 and then, when Pakistan won the competition in 2009, Afridi was Player of the Match in the final for his 1/20 with the ball and 40-ball 54*.

At 38, Afridi might not be an international any more, but he's the best candidate to lead the ICC World XI squad in what is a very significant fixture in the calendar: A T20I to raise funds for five cricket stadia in the Caribbean destroyed in the hurricanes last year.

Andy Flower, the ICC World XI coach, is certainly looking forward to working with Afridi, someone he has watched and played against “when he first burst on to the stage”.

“I’ve known him a long time, I was involved with him at the PSL [Pakistan Super League], played a lot of cricket with and against him, watched him a lot. He is an iconic figure in Pakistan and an iconic figure around the cricketing world,” said Flower.

“He’s captained his country. He is an extremely exciting player, he’s got an amazing charisma, and he’s fun to spend time with, I really enjoy his company. It’s really great that we’ve got someone of his standing that can take Eoin Morgan’s place as captain. I’m thankful that he’s here.”

Afridi, a part of Karachi Kings in the 2018 edition of the PSL, suffered a knee injury during the tournament, and Flower is happy that he has decided to play the match despite not recovering fully from it.

“I think it would be fair to say that he’s not fully fit because of his knee issue, but he’s been true to his commitment to playing in this game even though he’s slightly compromised injure-wise and I applaud him for that,” said the former Zimbabwe captain and England coach. “I look forward to him leading the side out at Lord’s and him having another great experience at Lord’s.”

Afridi’s final Test appearance, interestingly, was at Lord’s in July 2010 against Australia, when Pakistan lost by 150 runs and Afridi had an average game.

Overall, he has played two Tests, five ODIs and three T20Is at Lord’s, including the final of the ICC World T20 2009 when he was the star.

This time, it will be a different experience as he leads a team with a former teammate in Malik, two Indians in Dinesh Karthik and Mohammed Shami, and a host of exciting talents from England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Nepal.

“We’ve got young players and experienced players, Afridi and Sam Curran in the same dressing room. We’ve got Afridi sharing the same dressing room as Sandeep Lamichhane from Nepal,” said Flower of the diversity in the ICC World XI change room.

For Afridi, who has been seriously engaged with philanthropic work since finishing up with international cricket, it’s an opportunity to lead the fantastic bunch of cricketers, put up a good show at Lord’s in his best format again, and front a wonderful initiative.

As he said upon being named captain, “It’s a great honour to be leading the ICC World XI side, that too for such a good cause. I’m sure all the players from either side are looking forward to the match with great enthusiasm and people will get to see some high-quality cricket on Thursday.”

For further information about the match and tickets, please click here.