Afridi marks comeback with one-man demolition job

Omitted from his country39s failed Champions Trophy campaign the mercurial allrounder returned the bestever ODI bowling figures by a Pakistani and the second best overall in snaring seven for 12 to rout the home side for just 98 off 41 overs after having topscored with a typically swashbuckling 76 in the visitors39 total of 224 for nine quotI try hard and I back myself and I want to thank people back homequot said Afridi quotIt39s not time for me to just survive in the team but to give a lot to the team I tried to stay positive quotWhenever I got the ball in my zone I went for it And what a pitch it was for me to bowl on I just kept it simple and it workedquot This match represented yet another stunning spike in the 17year international career of Afridi whose ability to delight and entertain with his extravagant manner has often been overshadowed by an almost chronic failure to deliver at the most critical of times Fortunately for Pakistan this was not one of those times and his impact on the match started with his domination of a 120run sixthwicket partnership with his captain MisbahulHaq 52 the pair rescuing their team from the depths of 47 for five after gangling fastmedium bowler Jason Holder had wrecked the top order in finishing with the excellent figures of four for 13 While Misbah laboured towards yet another workmanlike halfcentury occupying 121 deliveries Afridi39s knock was a hurricane by comparison decorated by five sixes and six fours off just 55 deliveries He looked well on the way to completing a hundred but perished in the 39th over caught by Darren Sammy at deep midwicket off the bowling of Kieron Pollard West Indies would have been expecting the likes of Pollard and fellow bighitter Chris Gayle to produce similar innings to give their team a fighting chance of getting the 225 runs needed for victory However that hope never materialised and while Afridi took most of the glory with his demolition job with the ball the early damage was done by Mohammad Irfan In overcast seamerfriendly conditions the giant leftarm pacer disconcerted the toporder of the West Indies with his speed and trajectory from such a great height bowling Johnson Charles with a swinging fulltoss and then forcing Darren Bravo to glove a lifting delivery on the body for wicketkeeper Umar Akmal to take the catch down the legside Pakistan then got a huge boost when new batsman Marlon Samuels called Gayle for a sharp single and Misbah39s direct hit from cover found the dangerous opener short of his ground and the West Indies wobbling badly at seven for three All the support bowlers maintained the pressure and when Afridi came on as the fifth change the floodgates really opened Unable to cope with his cocktail of topspinners and googlies a succession of batsmen illequipped mentally and technically to cope with such wiles succumbed without much of a fight as five wickets crashed for 14 runs Only Samuels 25 showed any meaningful resistance but it was never going to be enough against a rampant Afridi who finished off the match by trapping Holder the early destroyer for the West Indies palpably lbw quotWe were let down by the batting yet againquot said West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo quotHolder bowled so well and while we have to give credit for the way Afridi and Misbah batted that total was gettable but we buckled under pressurequot