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| February 6, 2006 | Monday | Muharram 7, 1427 |
Afridi, Dhoni gear up for great contest
PESHAWAR, Feb 5: The five-match ODI series, which explodes into action from Monday, will provide a great contest between big-hitters Shahid Afridi and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
While Pakistan all-rounder Afridi, who was born in Khyber Agency, had already featured in 216 ODIs, India’s wicket-keeper/batsman Dhoni had appeared in just 30 one-dayers.
The 24-year-old Afridi has been labelled as ‘King of Sixes’ for the world record sixes.
Dhoni has also establishing himself as the great striker and loves hitting sixes.
Both are highly popular and crowd pullers.
“My job is to give team quick runs and help Pakistan winning besides providing crowd entertainments and excitement,” Afridi said on Sunday.
“I am definitely eager to do well in front of the public here because they have great passion for one-day cricket.
“Both Afridi and Dhoni are exciting cricketers and capable of turning the game within a couple of overs,” Pakistan captain Inzamamul Haq noted.
“They are great entertainers from spectators’ point of view,” Inzamam added.
Afridi has been crowd’s favourite ever since he first played for Pakistan. People take the trouble of watching him in action even from the farthest corner of their respective towns. They get their money’s worth when the master blaster gets going. And the stadium is half empty the moment Afridi gets out.
After a fine Test series against India, Afridi is geared up to launch more assaults in the next two weeks. And there couldn’t have been a more appropriate place than Peshawar for him to start another destruction of Indian bowling.
On the other hand, the Ranchi-born 24-year-old Dhoni also awaits a chance to add to his growing reputation with the bat after plundering a memorable 148 in the Faisalabad Test.
Dhoni also smashed a breathtaking 148 against Pakistan at Viskakhapatnam which is the highest individual score by an Indian batsman in ODIs against Pakistan.
While Afridi had added advantage of being a good leg-spinner and a brilliant fielder, the agile Dhoni is a dangerous customer behind the stumps.—APP
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