Tuesday 21 February 2017 10:25, UK
And so, it came to pass. On the 19th day of February of the year 2017, Shahid Khan Afridi's 20-year-international career came to a rather staid end at a press conference in Sharjah.
Coming to speak to the press at the end of a Pakistan Super League match where he had just played a typical Afridi-esque innings of 54 runs off just 28 balls, the man affectionately known as 'Boom Boom' 'bade adieu' to the world of international cricket.
That innings which Afridi played was a mixture of brute force and callous disregard of the reputations of the opposition bowlers who had the misfortune of bowling to him that night. A lost cause was suddenly converted to a tight finish and this was exactly what many had come to witness in Sharjah
As the 36-year-old strode towards the dressing rooms after trying to hit another ball out of the ground, many of his die-hard fans started to head towards the exits, which was reminiscent of countless times crowds had taken the same decision when their icon had lost his wicket.
And that, in a nutshell is Afridi's legacy. His ability to carve out victories from impossible situations and to bring joys to millions of his country-folk was a speciality that Afridi developed from the start of his international career.
He came to the fore in Nairobi in 1996 in his first international innings, with the then fastest century in a 50-over game and never looked back. The Afridi brand of cricket was thus born and the word "entertainer" entered the lexicon of cricket.
Impetuous, impulsive, swashbuckling, aggressive and powerful became the words associated with Afridi's brand of cricket. The crowds loved him for that as he provided the spark which made their day and played a carefree style of cricket that they could associate with. Most of the time his team-mates appreciated him for his approach, which put fear in the hearts of the opposition, but also occasionally put fear in the hearts of his own colleagues.
An international career which began in the rather non-descript surrounds of Nairobi, Kenya in October 1996 saw him play 523 times for Pakistan, scoring 11,185 runs and taking 540 international wickets. His endeavours helped Pakistan to some great heights with his fantastic performances in the 2009 World Twenty20 where he played a key role in Pakistan winning the title in England.
As if not satisfied with trail-blazing performances in the shorter forms of the game, Afridi tried his hand at Test cricket for a few years and was eventually promoted to captain, a position which he did not enjoy and subsequently resigned from in 2010. But, throughout his association with Pakistan cricket whenever his opponents predicted an end to his career, he roared back into contention with more swashbuckling performances. This was the hallmark of Afridi and something that many will miss in the coming years.
To those who watched him play live, the thrill and electric energy which ran through the audience whenever he came to bat or the feeling of hope in hopeless conditions when he took the ball in his hand to bowl and bamboozle his opposition was something they will remember forever. Naked aggression to take on any bowler at any speed defined his batting, while as a spin bowler, he had the mindset of a pace bowler with the intent of taking a wicket from every ball he bowled.
The word failure did not exist in his brave world and the term patience, as many of his hapless captains found out to their misery, was a sin in his mind. His ability to play impossible shots against some of the best bowlers was the reason why he was called 'Boom Boom', with 476 sixes and 1,052 fours during his international career the proof of his brute force which he would bring to bear, regardless of the match situation.
Whilst loved by millions for the way he wore his heart on his sleeve, Afridi has always been the first one to admit that his temperament has never been in the same league as that of the perennial Pakistan favourites and superstars such as Imran Khan or Wasim Akram. Some of his actions, which were driven perhaps by the sincere desire to help his country succeed at all costs, were bizarre to say the least and made him appear as a villain to some. His horrendous attempt to tamper the pitch during a Test match against England in Pakistan and the ball-biting incident in an ODI in Australia seemed to mark Afridi in a class of his own.
A marketing-man's dream, Afridi to this day - as witnessed in the ongoing Pakistan Super League games - has the uncanny ability to fill stadiums to the brim. They come to see the ultimate showman perform, hit sixes and fours like no tomorrow and to run through opposition line-ups, as well as offer the opposition a few words of advice. One can only imagine the state of stadiums in Pakistan if he had the opportunity to represent his country more often in Lahore, Karachi or Peshawar. Even in the desert of the UAE, where Pakistan now play in their home away from home, it is not an exaggeration to say that the mere inkling of Afridi's presence gets his local fans to make extraordinary sacrifices to watch their hero in action.
Never one to hold back his views, Afridi found himself at odds with the establishment, the media and even at times with fellow players as his very public recent spat with Javed Miandad proved to some amazement. As he now looks forward to another phase of his life where he expects to amuse the masses across the globe by partaking in the lucrative Twenty20 circuit, the jury is still out on what he means or meant for Pakistan cricket. Can he be considered a great with the never-say-die spirit of what made the likes of the great Imran Khan so special? Or, will his style of play be considered an example of short-term mediocrity which is now manifesting itself in Pakistan's low rankings in the shorter forms of the game?
Whatever the future holds for Afridi, the fact is that he was a unique cricketer, a one-in-a-million entertainer who brought great pleasure to cricket lovers around the globe and he shall always remain a people's champion.
