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Golden Debuts:
Shahid Afridi |
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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 8th 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 you 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.
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