The Afridi Encore.

The least I need is half a bottle of wine to connect with Afridi and the manic yet studied beauty of his X-poses - Legs apart, arms up, apart, the near perfect X, and every time he strikes it, he beams and I laugh. I believe, he too is on the verge of a laugh, that the poses are part of a well-scripted filmi tale out of Lollywood.

Much as I wanted, I didn’t expect Afridi to survive the World Cup. There were far too many forces aligned against him, him included. Almost expected him to resign from one day cricket after a failed World Cup. Instead, he’s licked Lanka, two babes, pocketed wickets, raised the bar and his arms.

Afridi brings the spark into a long, repetitive tournament – when the going’s tough, the team doesn’t appear connected to either him or themselves, but once the Afridi show starts, the team are his boys, they want a tug at his shirt, a feel of his flesh – they want to be in contact with the spark. They who were not alive, feel almost blessed to be in such company. Even the seniors can’t help themselves, as they sniff some of his success.

Batting at 7, bowling when he wants, Afridi as captain has relieved himself of thinking about his batting. But as a bowler he has 10 overs, 60 balls - where he can toss his wares, hurl his medium pacers, or whatever it is he bowls, because by the look of it, not many are clued on.

Afridi will continue to bat as the gifted tailender, a few fours, the odd six, and then one day, he may just fancy himself to come in early when the going’s good, and blast the score to an unreachable total. Knowledge of that option gives him the extra leeway, that if he wants, like in the T20 World Cup finals, he can have a shot at some more World Cup immortality.

But before that, it’s the bowling – and by the time Pak plays in the quarters, Afridi would have fed his batting on enough bowling points to feel anything’s possible.

Ideally for Pak, a knockout against India, when he chooses to go nuts batting up the order. Here’s to blasts from the pasts, brain fades, and the cocktail called Shahid Afridi.