Why does it always take a threat of match-fixing probes, a fear of an axe-effect or two, a shove to the wall or a call for the resignation of the captain, coach, selectors or even the President of the PCB for the national side to start performing to the best of their abilities is beyond me. In a performance that was as clinical as has been their debacle through the rest of the tour, they managed to rout a rather complacent-seeming Lankan side by 52 runs!

My quizzical looks apart, the surprise of the game to me was Shahid Afridi. When the circumstances are normal, and on most occasions when they are not, it is considered a misnomer to associate the word, matured, with an Afridi innings. If there was ever a format where, whatever little chance of batting in a responsible manner ends going up in smoke for most, it has to be this T20 and yet, Afridi’s almost gravity-defying like innings saw him do the unbelievable.

His first run took almost an over to come by – and did not involve his bat at all – and in his first 16, he had had only nine to his account.

Earlier, Imran Nazir looked like he was on a lucky charm tonic. A magic potion; at least till the time he was around. He swung wildly, he used the bat as a rapier, he edged a few, he missed many, he doled out a couple of catches, and amidst all this, he found the middle of the bat on enough number of occasions to smash a 28-ball 40!

In a virtual contrast to Nazir, Afridi looked at each of those deliveries like they were his first ever in international cricket, and for a moment I rubbed my eyes wondering whether it was Geoffrey Boycott at the crease. And then he exploded! Mathews, Thushara, Murali and Malinga, are were thumped in a manner that befits that real Afridi that we all know, and by the time he departed, he had completed his half century off only 37 deliveries and taken the visitors to a safe-looking total.

And it wasn’t as if Afridi’s batting was all that he had to deliver. The bowling, which is a motley of the leg-spinners that turn, and some others that refuse to, along with off-spin, straighter ones and medium pace did its usual damage. But what was most impressive, was his leadership, his ability to coax the bowling and the fielding side to get the better out of themselves. While the most condensed form of the game is never the best to gauge the true self when it comes to captaincy, it does give an indication of where the man in question could be heading.

His truer test will come with time, with losses, with more politics, with change in personnel, with purported back-stabbing and with the resultant media pressure. For now though, he can bask in the glory of having won his side a World Cup with the bat and the ball, and a T20I as a captain!

Suneer CMDN.com, PAK vs SL, Suneer Chowdhary speaks... Imran Nazir, Pakistan, Shahid Afridi, Sri Lanka