I know it’s a piece of crap but certainly worth discussing about it just for the sake of it. Well Shahid Afridi always catches the attention of cricket fans and always has plenty of surprises in store when he is on the ground. There is always an air of madness in Afridi whether its a sizzling knock that can smash his team out of trouble like the 70 from 50 balls in the first Abu Dhabi ODI or the reckless drive on the up to lose his wicket in a crunch situation like the third ODI a the same venue. Looks like he has the biggest fan following amongst the present Pakistani players and that sums up the fact that he is a crowd puller.

There is more to Afridi these days that has been talked a lot in various public forums. It was an incident in the Champions Trophy Match between arch rivals – India and Pakistan at Centurion that we will talk about. When Afridi got the Indian Skipper MS Dhoni lbw, Shoaib Malik had run quickly to embrace him from behind and in return came a kiss (a passionate one?) from Shahid Afridi! That was perhaps the moment that Afridi’s celebration styles have come under the scanner from the cricket fans worldwide. But a bit more research and one comes across Shahid Afridi blowing a flying kiss to Jacques Kallis having pulled him in disdain to the boundary in a Semi Final Match of the 2009 Twenty20 World Cup which Pakistan won.

In the third ODI at Abu Dhabi when Saeed Ajmal had taken one of the Kiwi wickets came the playboy Shahid Afridi towards him, not to kiss him but instead give him a slap on his cheek! That’s Afridi’s style – you never know what comes out from him! Whatever it could be, Saeed Ajmal will be careful perhaps of not getting close to Afridi the next time he takes a wicket. Well yesterday was the moment which really forced me to write this senseless post. It was the little Kamran Akmal’s turn to get a kiss from Boom Boom Afridi when he took a neat catch behind the stumps in yesterday’s T20I at the Dubai Sports City Stadium. Shahid Afridi’s wierd celebrations were even discussed by the TV Commentators – Tony Greig and Rameez Raja if I am not mistaken and they couldn’t come to any conclusion as well like many others.

As far as the cricket goes, the Pakistan team seems to be responding very well to Shahid Afridi’s captaincy which certainly wasn’t the case when Younis Khan was around. Afridi too seems to be in love with his colleagues, and guess he is showing the affection a bit too much in public. The best thing is that Shahid Afridi is enjoying every moment of his cricket. Now let’s see who will be next in line for the ‘Shahid Afridi Kiss’ or the ‘Shahid Afridi Slap’. No it will not be Younis Khan for sure!!

Tags: Pakistan Cricket, Shahid Afridi