When Shahid Afridi burst into the cricketing world, as the 18-year-old who made the fastest ODI hundred ever, several in his country saw in him traces of the next Imran Khan. The adjectives decreed for Afridi are the ones extended to Miandad: Cunning, clever, crafty. From a precociously-talented, trigger-happy batsman and part-time leggie, he evolved into a clever leg-spinner capable of occasional cameos, depending on his mood. Even as he grew older and acquired a finely manicured beard, he seemed ageless, as though he had discovered the fabled elixir of youth. Perhaps that’s the best way to capture him on his cricketing epitaph: Afridi, the ageless.

Source: Indian Express February 20, 2017 18:45 UTC