“He is mentally still 16 years old,” were the words Shahid Afridi said about Yasir Hameed when he revealed some of the secrets about his team mates last summer after the spot fixing allegations.
Can Afridi today claim that he is any more mature than Hameed? The mistake that Hameed made was the first and perhaps the last of his career. But Afridi has made a number of such mistakes.
He has been caught damaging pitch during a match and punished for that.
He has been found chewing the ball and punished for that.
He announced retirement after the first test against Australia in England last year although he was sent there as captain for the full tour which included one-day and test series against England as well.
Then his complaints about team selection in a chat with reporters.
And then his announcement of retirement and blaming cricketers from one province for conspiracies against him.
Doesn’t all this prove that he is still the 16-year-old boy that made his debut in 1996?
Has he shown any more maturity than Hameed?
He was ignored for captaincy for a long time after Inzamam retired although he was the senior most player after Inzamam. His temperament was the reason why he wasn’t chosen for the big job. He was given the job when all others–Yousuf, Younis and Shoaib Malik–had either failed or had lost favour with the board. It was hoped that he would show some maturity (he has been in international cricket for fourteen years), but no.
We hope he soon reconsiders his childish attitude and withdraws his decision to retire. Otherwise there is no one indispensable. Hafeez has already cemented his place in the team as an all-rounder. There are many others waiting for a vacancy. No cricketer can think himself indispensable when he is past 30.
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