Shahid Afridi has given an insight into his thought process during his last-over heroics against India in the 2014 Asia Cup semi-final, explaining how he “tricked” off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin to clinch Pakistan’s one-wicket win.
With two wickets in hand and 10 runs required, Pakistan lost Saeed Ajmal off the first delivery of the final over. Junaid Khan walked in at No.11 and handed Afridi, unbeaten at the other end the strike. Afridi then hit Ravichandran Ashwin for consecutive sixes to chase down the 246-run target and help Pakistan register a famous win.
“Saeed Ajmal was batting with me,” Afridi said while in conversation with Zainab Abbas. “I told him to put the bat on the ball and somehow get a single. I told him not to go for the sweep shot but he ended up playing one and lost his wicket. Ashwin was bowling well, he was getting some purchase from the track too. Then Junaid Khan came in and I told him the same thing – just get a single. And he somehow managed to get me back on strike.”
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The former Pakistan all-rounder then explained how he outwitted Ashwin into bowling a leg-spin delivery first up. Afridi sent the over’s third delivery over deep extra cover, before launching the next one over long-on to send Pakistan into the final, ending with an 18-ball 34.
“What I did against Ashwin was that I looked towards the leg side,” he said. “I wanted to trick him so that he thinks that I am going to hit on the leg side. The idea behind it was to force the off-spinner to not bowl his off-spin. And Ashwin did exactly that. He bowled the leg-spin. I hit it over the extra cover region for a six.
“The next delivery was a difficult one, I did not get it in the middle. I was in two minds, I was thinking will it go over the ropes or not. But in the end, the ball sailed over the fielder for a six, and I breathed a sigh of relief.”
