GOLDEN DEBUTS: Shahid Afridi (Pakistan)

- Karthik Narayan

GOLDEN DEBUT MATCH : Pakistan Vs Sri Lanka at Nairobi Gymkhana, 4th Oct 1996

There is something that happened on Oct 4, something that changed the life of a 16 year old. This is a tribute being the 10th anniversary of that great event that has stood tall amongst the challenge of time, unconquered by none.

A total stranger to International cricket, Sahibzaha Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi. That’s a challenge to a Sri Lankan Chaminda Vaas for a long name, wouldn’t u feel? Shahid Afridi as we all know him now as a household name is no bowler. He is the most explosive batsman in ODI history. In his first ODI at Nairobi, Kenya, he did not get a chance to bat. But his time arose in his next match in the same series and he got a chance to bat.

Setting a big total for the Sri Lankans was required from the Pakistani point of view. Pakistanis were supposed to defeat the Lankans and get a sizeable score to go past their opposition even on the Net Run Rate factor and reach the Finals which was to be played against South Africa. So a big win was the need of the hour. Had the Pakistanis lost, that would have been a great world record for the chasing team

Well, they just managed to pull off an incredible escape. Pakis did win that match by 82 runs, and only just managed to pull it off with a narrow net run rate and qualified for the Final. Pakistan took that risk of playing Shahid Afridi at number three on the batting order and he was a debutant as far as batting was concerned, but knowing the Pakistanis, it was only obvious that there would be a surprise always. And his date with destiny was sworn in as OCT 4, 1996. Engraved and etched for time immemorial!

NEVER HAS THIS BATTING CARD BEEN REPRODUCED BY ANY OTHER BATSMAN IN ALL THESE 35 YEARS OF ODI CRICKET.

102 runs off 37 balls with 11 towering sixes and 6 fours. The innings ended at 40 balls, and in the short space of around 7 overs, he had changed the entire course of the game! The highlight of that innings was scoring 40 runs of Sanath Jayasuriya’s 2 overs (who held that record for fastest ODI Hundred till that one Boy brought Joy!). Afridi missed the fastest Fifty by a ball, he took 18 balls to Sanath’s 17! But his second Fifty came off just 19 balls! So it was evenly scored either side of the Fifty, imagine sustenance at its best! Scoring 11 sixes is no easy thing at all.

Sadly very few have seen that match, and it has not been filmed for viewing as well, which is a paradox in itself. A teenage Prodigy who can hit the ball and make it go all around the park and cricket fans not being able to see it! For those who witnessed it, it must have been splendid cricket played in a very short span of time. And a high scoring game of cricket where every ball must have been something like watching a highlights program, 37 balls and a hundred runs.

Truly wonderful to listen, one can listen to this and read about this all day, we all do love batsman scoring runs at a rapid pace, don’t we? We sure do… and now all we can do is read it and relive those joyous wonderful moments, which sadly, we can never see in our lives.

A tribute to that day in History when a teenager smashed the cricket ball unlike no peer. And this is but a drop in the ocean to that knock which will surely stand the test of time. Afridi Deserves a name called after his Hundred. In the Cricketing Calendar, may Oct 4 be observed as a tribute to that whirlwind knock, just put in a date to commemorate this finest moment of History in this very fine Game.