The stupidity of Shahid Afridi’s actions was profound, there is no question. As if the two whitewashes hadn’t caused us fans enough embarrassment, Afridi had to compound it by taking a bite out of the ball with as much subtlety as that spectator’s tackle on Khalid Latif. By the way, everyone’s talking about security in Pakistan, what happened here Cricket Australia?
Captains take a bite. Maybe there was something wrong with the Australian food?
Afridi was being touted for captain in the Test and ODI formats and I would not have minded. He made a good case with his recent performances and showed signs of maturity but his actions here have got me wondering if he really has matured. Yes, every team probably does it Shahid, but I doubt they use their teeth and make it so blatantly obvious. He may as well have gone up to umpire Asoka De Silva and asked to use his dentures. And when quizzed on Pakistani television, why on earth did he come out with the excuse that he was smelling the ball? He would have even been better off saying that he was starving because of the poor Australian cuisine.
Afridi has history of course. In a game against England, he walked onto the middle of the pitch and preceded to do a few pirouettes to scuff up the track with his spikes. Highly subtle once again. Yet maybe he should have used his spikes on the ball this time by stepping on it as it obviously legal as it worked for Stuart Broad in the recent match against South Africa where he got away with it.
Stuart Broad, sinking his spikes into the ball & doing "nothing wrong"
And the difference between what Broad and Afridi did? Nothing. So why did he get away with it? Well it’s obvious, Broad is an Englishman. Broad knew what he was doing and as soon as the allegations emerged, the English PR machine went into overdrive with Broad being “astonished” by the allegations, Strauss calling them “malicious” and Cook being angry since they’d done “nothing wrong”. At the time, Nasser Hussain, Michael Vaughan and Simon Wilde of The Sunday Times had suggested that the outcome would have been far different if the bowler who did it was from Pakistan. It is clear this difference they spoke of is being shown to some extent in how Afridi’s actions were dealt with. If you look at the effect it has on the ball, surely metal spikes are worse than the enamel that teeth are made of? But I guess in the eyes of the ICC, a Pakistani is worse than an Englishman too.
What Afridi did was wrong and embarrassing, but that and what Broad did shows why it continues to pay to be from certain countries. Just ask Sulieman Benn who was suspended after an incident with Mitchell Johnson and the saint that is Brad Haddin. Haddin, who instigated the clash, and Johnson who clearly makes physical contact with Benn first (at 3 minutes 55 secs), were only fined a fraction of their match fees, whereas Benn was banned, after the match referee had finished analysing his findings. That match referee was Broad’s daddy Chris, by the way. If you don’t want to call it racism, then call it whatever you will, but what it is, is obvious.
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February 2nd, 2010 at 2:49 pm
Bravo, Stani. But you wont find bloggers from certain country agreeing to this angle. They will continue to obfuscate and justify Broad as innocent. You are right – this is racist but they’ll continue to advise Asians of reverse racism rather than admit. They are always right. I’ll stop commenting on blogs if even one of them admits this.
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:50 pm
Hey thanks for putting up the Broad spikes photograph. I hadn’t seen it before. Wow – how did he get away with it when there is such clear photo evidence. While I feel Shahid Afridi got away very lightly considering Dhoni got two match ban as well for slow over rate, how the hell did Broad not even get a simple fine slapped on him??????
February 2nd, 2010 at 3:47 pm
Raj
Tell me about it! I have been arguing against them in the past and I get the same response of ‘you’re just playing the race card’. The number of automatons that inhabit our planet is truly frightening.
Rayden
No worries mate. Yes, I think Afridi got away lightly too, especially after his previous. Also, I think had they taken into account the level of stupidity of what he did and how he did it, he probably would have been banned for life! When I first heard about it, I thought he must have take the ball near his mouth and had a quick scrape with his teeth, but when I saw it, I couldn’t believe it.
February 2nd, 2010 at 3:49 pm
The only difference really between what Broad did and what Afridi did is the subtlety – or lack thereof. Broad used his feet in a fashion that could be missed and explained away if necessary; Afridi shamelessly picked the sucker up and put his teeth into it.
I’m annoyed that Afridi got such a small punishment (but I am an Aussie, so that was a given right?) and even more annoyed that Broad got nothing at all. Don’t even get me started on the Benn saga … I would be here all week. Suffice it to say that I might be an Aussie through and through but Hads still does not come up roses with me on that incident.
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:53 pm
Sid
Yes, and the fact that Broad probably managed to do more damage to the ball with his spikes than Afridi did with his teeth.
You can stay here all week Sid, I don’t mind. Haddin has got to be one of the most despicable things ever. Peter Roebuck wrote a good article in The SMH about the incident.
February 3rd, 2010 at 12:12 am
Stani
For a moment forget about what others got away with, Obviously Afridi had no intentions of hiding it, as he said that he wanted to win that match desperately and he not only he did it in front of 26 cameras but also openly admitted his crime and also gave his reason for doing it, but I guess he only weighed in the punishment he was going to get versus winning and completely forgot about the image of our bowlers and the team. And just for this fact alone he deserves a bigger punishment.
Stupidity has no bounds.He has shown very early in his career as a captain that how smart he is and what we should expect of him in years to come, “he can smell the ball with his teeth” and probably crack a walnut with his ass:)
And we thought Inzi and Malik because of their poor English were a laughing stock and a source of embarrassment for the nation.
Stupidity has no bounds and he has proven that, we gained nothing out of the whole drama except humiliation.
His fans are justifying his act by considering it as his desire to win under all circumstances,like always they have failed to see the humiliation and damage he has caused.
February 3rd, 2010 at 2:04 am
Hi Stani I thought a bit about your post and I’m sort of responding to it here (partly):
~ Play For Country Not For Self ~: The blond, the fat and the hungry
PS. Something unrelated, would it be possible to integrate a favicon into your website code, I made one for your blog homepage but it would be nice to have a global one, would also look good in the blogroll for sure
February 3rd, 2010 at 10:35 am
Well Stani and Wes, what are you guys doing, stealing my thoughts? lolz But hey good job both of you I am giving you all my thoughts for my posts if you guys can put them up like this in a very good way.
Ok about the matter in question, hmmm let me come up with my own little version
February 3rd, 2010 at 7:35 pm
Wasim
I guess the cameras will be following our players’ hands even more closely than before thanks to Afridi. Winning under all circumstances?! He can’t even do that. I’m sure if the 11 Australians went under with food poisoning, we’d still contrive to lose. His act was unjustifiable
Wes
Favicon? You’d have to tell me what that is (woops) and I’ll have a chat with my webmaster.
Reverse
It was all Wes!!! nothing to do with me
February 3rd, 2010 at 11:25 pm
[...] (our co-author) here and Stani Army a blog here has made those points pretty clear and I almost totally agree to both of them even they are little [...]
February 4th, 2010 at 2:07 am
Stani
I was thinking that everybody crucified Yousaf when he praised Australian team and said that they were difficult to beat, those were just words, but if you think Afridi essentially conveyed they same message that we can’t beat Australia fair and square we have to resort to cheating.
Which one is worse? but Abbasi & co are willfully neglecting this aspect.
February 4th, 2010 at 2:47 am
Wasim
I agree with Yousuf’s sentiments. Rankings are just rankings, but I really do believe that Australia are still the team to beat. I’m not just saying that because they whitewashed us twice.
The Australian mentality and will to win stands alone from the rest. One thing I have also noticed is they treat their individual team mates as adults. If a catch is dropped the bowler shows his disappointment, but if a player does something well, he is not unnecessarily complimented. This causes the player in question to want to better themselves, act like a grown-up and have responsibility whilst not taking their place in the team for granted.
For the likes of Afridi, nothing is really of much importance….definitely not the country or us fans.
I noticed Dr Abbasi wanted Younis to captain again.
April 20th, 2010 at 1:09 am
[...] (our co-author) here and Stani Army a blog here has made those points pretty clear and I almost totally agree to both of them even they are little [...]