No Sir everyone loves Afridi. He has been grossly misunderstood. In the beginning we thought he was a complete cricketer meant for all types of cricket. It took us 10 years to realize that he was actually fit for ODIs. Five years later we understood that he is really tailor made for T20s only. Now we know that he can actually be used as an example for young budding cricketers of how cricket should not be played.
In 1996 we thought he is a batsman who can bowl a bit. In 2006 we realized that in fact he is a bowler that can bat a bit. In 2013 we came to know that he is actually a "bit" that can neither bat nor bowl.
He is extremely talented. Among the batsmen of his caliber, he has the highest strike rate in one day internationals. Other batsmen of his caliber are Murli Dharan, Danish Kaneria, Dilip Joshi and Abdul Qadir.
He holds the world record of playing least number of balls for anyone who has played more than 350 ODIs. As a matter of fact he has played less number of balls than the ODIs he has played.
There is no better site than seeing a crowd going berserk as Shahid Afridi enters the ground with chants of Boom Boom resounding in every corner of the stadium. Most of the time exactly after one ball it is followed by camera shot of wide eyed, open mouthed fans, with their tongues hanging outside, resting both of their hands on their heads while Afridi returns to dressing room among hushed silence to finish his remaining cup of still warm tea. Our lovely crowd has repeated the above act hundreds of time and both Afridi and crowd have never disappointed each other in this act.
For a small patch (which lasted for around 15 years) Afridi struggled to find his batting form. But our people never gave up on him. We usually give new governments 100 days and democracy a couple of years before we lose patience but our love for Afridi is eternal. Most of us still believe that he is still learning and one day he'll silence all his critics.
Afridi is an enigma. Some people say that he is a spin bowler that bowls very fast. Others say that he is actually a fast bowler that bowls too slow.
But Pakistanis love him because just like our nation he is passionate, naive, bent on not learning from his mistakes and hitting in the air year after year hoping against hope that this time it won't be caught.