Afridi is such a poor, poor captain.
It was a pathetic display. Firstly the inability to read the pitch. Rob Key had a look at the pitch an hour before the toss and said that it is dry as hell and will turn square. Key has played a lot of cricket especially as captain so odds were he knew what he was talking about. So why couldn't Afridi or his management see it? Afridi has been playing cricket since the 80s. Reading pitches should come naturally to him.
Secondly why on earth go with FOUR seamers on a subcontinent pitch anyway? Was it grass on it? Was it going to swing and seam? Uneven bounce? No. There was nothing to suggest any of that.
Thirdly did they even watch Ind-NZ the other day? Spinners took all the first 9 wickets. Santner was MOTM. You've got your own version of Santner in Imad Wasim, who I believe is the better bowler of the two, so why leave him out of this game? It's the same ground where Imad took 4 wickets on Monday vs SL (good players of spin historically). Even if you didn't believe it will turn much, why leave out a spinner who is in good form and probably would have caused some havoc vs a team obviously struggling against left-arm spinners? Add to that Imad's T20I economy is marginally above 6 so it's not like he would have been smashed around the park either.
Going into a match with Afridi and Malik as the only spin options is criminal. Afridi was past his prime after WC 2011 and Malik is a part timer. Said when the squad was announced that they are lacking a specialist spinner. Why weren't guys like Asghar and Gohar considered? Even Babar would have been a handful. If there wasn't any good spinners available then fair enough but I can think of 5-6 guys not picked who would walk into most teams at this WT20.
Why did Amir only bowl 3 overs? 2 overs 1/3 and then he doesn't bowl again until the game is done and dusted? If you've put up a low target then the only way you are winning is if you take 10 wickets. You don't get 10 wickets by taking the game deep. You have to bowl out your best bowlers up front. Kohli in the shorter formats is an all time great. You let him settle you lose the game. The only way he could have been dismissed with yesterday's bowling lineup was if Amir bowled his 4 overs up front.
Afridi batting at 3 was a joke. The guy has no technique or ability to rotate the strike, how come he walking in at 3? At 3 you need an anchor. Hafeez scored 70* (49) on Monday and 64 (42) on Wednesday, both on the same venue. Why change something that is working? Why is the most in-form batsman walking in at 7 (!) to face the final over?!
The good thing is that Afridi is retiring on Friday. His bowling is way over the top, his batting is non-existent and his captaincy is shit. Can't recall I've ever witnessed a more braindead cricketer.