Boom boom Afridi has landed himself in a controversy with the launch of this book and now a petition has been filed in the court to ban his book ‘Game Changer’.
Islamabad (Pakistan Point News – 6th May, 2019) Pakistan's cricket icon Shahid Afridi has grabbed ample headlines ever since his autobiography ‘Game Changer' hit the shelves.
Boom boom Afridi has landed himself in a controversy with the launch of this book and now a petition has been filed in the Sindh High Court (SHC) to ban his book ‘Game Changer’.
The petition has been filed by advocate Abdul Jalil Khan Marwat.
Shahid Afridi, Wajahat Saeed Khan, Javed Miandad, Gautam Gambhir, PCB, ICC and Nadra have been made parties in the petition.
The petition stated that Shahid Afridi used the word ‘small man’ for legendary cricketer Javed Miandad. Similarly, he called Waqar Younis as 'mediocre captain and terrible coach'.
The petition further stated that Shahid Afridi hurt the cricket institutions, and the game itself in his book.
The petition demanded that Shahid Afridi should be restricted from selling the copies of his biography.
Shahid Afridi has narrated some important incidents in his autobiography ‘Game Changer’ co-written by renowned journalist Wajahat Saeed Khan.
In his autobiography launched on April 25, Shahid Afridi has criticised many fellow cricketers, including the legendary ones. He criticised various cricketers, incluing Waqar Younis, Shoaib Malik and Javed Miandad.
Besides these allegations, boom boom Afridi has also narrated some important incidents about his life.
Afridi revealed that he was aged 19 when he blasted onto the world stage with his record-breaking innings, and not 16 as history suggests.
"For the record, I was just nineteen, and not sixteen like they claim," he writes in "Game Changer", which went on sale last week.
"I was born in 1975. So, yes, the authorities stated my age incorrectly." Confusingly, if he was born in 1975, it would mean he was either 20 or 21 at the time.
Wisden, the sport's recognised almanac, still lists Afridi as the youngest player to score a one-day ton -- aged 16 years and 217 days -- but his fastest-century record lasted until 2014 when it was eclipsed by New Zealander Corey Anderson, and by South African AB de Villiers a year later.
The age controversy is just one of many in Afridi's book, in which he lays into former team mates with no holds barred – calling Javed Miandad, Pakistan's most successful Test batsman, "a small man".
"He hated the way I batted," writes Afridi of the 1999 India tour, accusing Miandad of not giving him batting practice before the Chennai Test in which he scored a century to help Pakistan to a 12-run victory.
"Javed's attitude towards me touched a new low. Before the post-match ceremony, he pulled me aside and said 'Listen, buddy, you'd better make sure you thank me in the presentation'. I couldn't believe it.
"That day I lost all my respect for Javed Miandad, supposedly one of the greats of the game but in reality, a small man." Afridi described another team mate, Waqar Younis, as a mediocre captain and terrible coach.
He said Imran Khan, a former captain and now prime minister of Pakistan, had an "abrasive style leadership".
"By the way, they say that Khan... runs his cabinet the same way," he added.
Afridi heaped praise on the late Bob Woolmer, however, the Englishman who coached Pakistan during his best years.
"I can safely say that the only coach who gave me that kind of support was Woolmer. My batting stats were better under him," he writes.
He described former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir, with whom he clashed on-field in 2007, as "a burn out who had attitude problems".
"I remember that run-in with him in 2007 tour when he completed a single while running straight into me. The umpires had to finish it off or I would have," he said.
"Clearly we had a frank bilateral discussion about each other's female relatives" he wrote.
