Cricket, not politics

Shahid Afridi’s fan following in the country as well as across the border has dropped drastically. From reading and approving comments on the site where readers praised Afridi’s captaincy, his humble speech after the semi-final and his views on Pakistan-India relations – suddenly, the very same news stories and blogs have been swamped with
angry comments, blasting the skipper for his remarks about the Indian media.

In order to understand what the brouhaha is about, watch Afridi’s interview with a local TV channel. He then went on to give another interview, this time to NDTV and tried to set the record straight but it seems as though the damage has been done.

But before we get caught up in what he said or didn’t say or should have said, let us backtrack a little. Afridi is a sportsman. Period. That Pakistani sportsmen have, in the past year, decided to become goodwill ambassadors on behalf of Pakistan is simply put, incredible. But that does not make them diplomats or even political analysts who need to sound off on every single official meeting between Pakistan and India, or any other policy for that matter.

When Aisam-ul Haq spoke at the US Open presentation ceremony, we were shocked, teary-eyed and proud – all at once. That Aisam decided to use the platform to speak about the country when the speech could have easily been about his hard work, made all of us so very proud to have someone so eloquent and earnest represent us. Our hearts filled with joy and we welcomed him back with open arms.

After years, we finally found a spokesman in the Pakistan cricket team who made us equally proud. Afridi had won over not just our hearts but those in India as well. Lest we bring Afridi crashing down from the pedestal we had placed him on, we need to realise that although we love to crown people as heroes and saviours, we are just as quick in bringing about their downfall – we often fall prey to being our own worst critic.

We all know that Shahid Afridi is very candid and does not he mince his words– quite similar to his batting style. Whether his words were or weren’t taken out of context in that interview, why are we repeatedly questioning a cricketer about Pakistan-India relations? Let bureaucrats and diplomats handle matters related to foreign policy, given how delicate such issues are to begin with, especially our checkered history with India.

Sure, he has an opinion on politics just as much as every other citizen does – but does this mean his thoughts on diplomacy are more important than the upcoming tour of the West Indies? More important questions to ask him (and for him to discuss in these press conferences) would be how the team plans to continue making a bigger impact in international cricket, who the next wicket-keeper will be and so much more. As @Tazeen said on Twitter: That man is tired, let him sleep. Mrs. Afridi, take his phone and hide it.