Afridi - Class Act

[Engle]

Post-match comments from Afridi :

"First of all I'd like to congratulate the Indian cricket team and the Indian nation for this great victory, and wish them all the best fo the final"

"I want to say sorry to my nation. We tried our level best, and we enjoyed ourselves at this tournament"

My respect for him has sky-rocketed.

Made captain a few days before the tournament.

Led from the front, never cared about personal records, put the team above him, coalesced and cajoled a weak team, garnered the support from his men, rebounded from controversy, exhibited exuberance, uncomplaining about dropped catches off his bowling, gracious in defeat......

Afridi, a class act

[Agent Nationaux]

Yeah, he really was. Converted me amongst a lot of other people. The best thing about him was that he always gave his best no matter what. Was a bit angry though when he got out with that slog, but Misbah wasn't exactly helping at the other end.

[Jono]

Yeah I loved his comments. Fantastic stuff.

Genuinely felt gutted for him when he said sorry to the nation.

[Dissector]

I loved the way he kept his sense of humour when his fielders were driving him crazy by dropping catches. Really rallied his bowlers who responded with a fantastic effort which kept Pakistan in the game. Obviously he didn't do so well in the chase but the rest of batting had made a mess of it before he came in.

[salman85]

My favorite Pakistan captain after Imran.

Led my example,brought the sheer joy of cricket back in the team,and was one of the prime reasons why the world cup was followed by such fever pitch enthusiasms in Pakistan after the spot fixing drama.I hope he continues and stays around long enough for the 2015 WC,but that doesn't seem likely with the state of our cricket board.

But still,love the guy.Orchestrated Pakistan's most exciting world cup in 12 years.

[vcs]

Originally Posted by Jono

Yeah I loved his comments. Fantastic stuff.

Genuinely felt gutted for him when he said sorry to the nation.

.

[Howe_zat]

Originally Posted by Agent Nationaux

Yeah, he really was. Converted me amongst a lot of other people. The best thing about him was that he always gave his best no matter what. Was a bit angry though when he got out with that slog, but Misbah wasn't exactly helping at the other end.

Definately. Slogging was really Afridi's only choice at that stage, can't blame him too much.

[GingerFurball]

Gun captain. Yet to convince me tactically but I've been massively impressed with him for a year or so - he seems to be the leader of men that the Pakistan dressing room sorely needs.

Like I said earlier, it's a real shame he's chucked Test cricket. Pakistan would be a much better side with him around IMO.

[jeevan]

Recall some similar statesmanlike comments after the media frenzy that followed the Nov 2008 Mumbai attacks too. Probably instinctively realizes that India-Pakistan games unite rather than divide despite the war-like talk that goes around.

His achievements as captain in this WC should not be considered lesser than those of Imran. The latter, frankly, had access to all the talent in the country at the time, and there were Pakistani all time greats in both batting and bowling, and amongst both the seasoned and exciting new blood in that squad. There was no major drama like a complete absence of home games, or match fixing scandals, or drug suspensions...(or at least I dont know of such events then)

[zorax]

Afridi is epic. Love the guy.

[marc71178]

Originally Posted by Howe_zat

Definately. Slogging was really Afridi's only choice at that stage, can't blame him too much.

Could've, and should've taken the PP at the start of that over - meant Zaheer could only bowl 2 overs in the PP and a couple of successful big shots would've put the game right back into the balance.

[benchmark00]

Although a nice speech and all, I struggle to define a person who has a history of ball tampering and pitch doctoring (for want of a better term) as a 'class act'.

[Sanz]

Afridi was all class today. It seems to me that the whole team including the captain surprised themselves by getting into the semi final and they just seemed happy to be there.

[Sanz]

Originally Posted by benchmark00

Although a nice speech and all, I struggle to define a person who has a history of ball tampering and pitch doctoring (for want of a better term) as a 'class act'.

You had to come in an crap here, didn't you ? What has that got to do with how Afridi behaved today ? He was gracious in defeat and also very proud of his young team's performance in this world cup.

I am sure you apply the same yardstick to the bad boys like MWaugh, Shane Warne, Chappell and Lillee.

[benchmark00]

Originally Posted by Sanz

You had to come in an crap here, didn't you ? What has that got to do with how Afridi behaved today ? He was gracious in defeat and also very proud of his young team's performance in this world cup.

I am sure you apply the same yardstick to the bad boys like MWaugh, Shane Warne, Chappell and Lillee.

Haha oh Sanzy, you never fail to impress me with your ignorance.

You love to paint me out as one eyed, but here you have made a complete fool of yourself, considering Shane Warne is one of my most disliked cricketers of all time, and I consider him quite unscrupulous.

All the time you come in and play the poster without actually having a valid argument against what I say. When did I criticise Afridi's speech? I simply counter argued the thread title which hails Afridi as a class act, when imo, and many others, he quite clearly isn't.

Please try and troll harder.