To a nation that is still savouring the victory at the ICC World Twenty20 it may not go down too well, but the fact of the matter is that there is something more important to celebrate and talk about. It was a tournament where Shahid Afridi reinvented himself and that would mean much more to Pakistan than just the victory, provided, of course, he can keep it going.

Since his emergence on the international scene, he has always been in the thick of things. He has always had a presence on the field marked by a you-never-know mystery. The rather lengthy lean patch he had been through seems to have done him much good. For one, he concentrated on his bowling and has now developed a few variations that were never there in his armoury before. Another gain is in terms of a new-found touch of humility in his otherwise brash demeanour while on the batting crease; by his own admission he is beginning to accord respect to the rival bowlers.

But the biggest gain is in his success to curb the irritating tendency to hit everything out of existence. His one-dimension batting technique was simple: close the eyes and hit through the line. But no more. It was truly and simply refreshing to watch Afridi ducking under the short balls and leaving the ones that wobbled around early in his innings. That he chose the shortest version of the game, which is more about the wham-bam stuff that he is known for than the straight-bat niceties, was a bit ironic but refreshing nonetheless.

The change happened midway through the tournament. Generally, experts and pundits on various television channels have tended to locate the origin of this turnaround to Afridi’s elevation in the batting order, but it was not the first time he was batting at that position. A quick run through this outings in the World Cup also bears out the fact that it was more a change of mental frame and approach on his part rather than any batting position.

Against England, he scored five runs in 12 balls before falling in his traditional mould; holing out in the outfield as a result of a horrid swing. Against the Netherlands, he had 13 out of seven deliveries, but his dismissal was indicative of his inability to control his instincts. He had just hit Dirk Nannes, one of the fastest bowlers in the tournament who had an impressive IPL season with the Delhi Daredevils, for a six, but tried to do the same with the next ball and got bowled. The nadir came in the match against Sri Lanka when he again holed out in the field trying a first-ball slog against no less a bowler than Muralitharan.

The turnaround came in the match against New Zealand where Afridi, who had till than faced just 20 balls in the tournament, ended up playing almost that many in one match alone. His undefeated 29 off 18 balls did not have any sixes; not even an attempted one. He was still batting in the middle order, so the argument about his elevation to the one-down spot stands nullified. It was just the man himself who preferred maturity as the proper way out of the dumps. He spent five overs on the batting crease which, in the context of the format, represents 25 per cent of the team quota. It was indeed a long innings by Afridi’s usual standard.

Against Ireland it was 24 off 13, but, again, without any attempt to send the ball into orbit. Even his 51 in 34 deliveries did not have a hit over the ropes, and he had already faced 28 balls when he smashed Botha for four consecutive boundaries; three inside-out hits on the off side followed by the most delicate of late-cuts.

In the final against Sri Lanka, his 54 off 40 deliveries included a couple of fours and as many sixes. It was on the 20th and 21st deliveries that he hit Murali for 10 runs. It was a far cry from the first-ball slog he had attempted in the Super Eight tie. He waited for another 13 deliveries before his next onslaught; a six and a four against Isuru Udana in the 18th over of the match, which sealed the fate of the match. It was like watching the second coming of Afridi; a man reincarnated.

With 176 runs in seven innings off 125 balls, Afridi stands fifth on the strike rate ladder — 140.8 — among those who scored more than 150 in the tournament; A.B. de Villairs, Yuvraj Singh, Kevin Pietersen and Tilikeratne Dilshan being ahead of him. On the list of tournament’s big hitters, Afridi stands at an uncharacteristic 14th and that too along with 11 others, with just 3 sixes. But none of those ahead of him on either of the lists could do what Afridi did; winning the title for his team.

Whatever the motivation behind this turnaround, one can only hope that Afridi would have realised that he can still be a world-beater without having to swing when he doesn’t have to. If he can continue in this clinical mould, he can sure be as deadly, if not more, as were the likes of Adam Gilchrist and Mathew Hayden. If that happens, it will be a bigger, much bigger, success than the Twenty20 World Cup.

the comeback kid: Shahid Afridi taking one of his hottest catches during the recently concluded Twenty20 World Cup in London — AFP Photo