Stay Classy Afridi!!!!

In my previous post, I promised to dedicate a separate blog post just to the Afridi controversy. Well here it is....

India Vs Pak Semifinal really lived up to its billings. Intense and enjoyable till the end. Post match comments from the captains were sensible and one got the impression that the game was played in its true spirit. Fast forward a couple of days. A video showed up on FB showing Afridi arriving in Pakistan and being quizzed by Pak media about the loss to India and it was heartening to see his reaction. His comments were something like this (loosely translated):

"Why do you guys hate India so much. It was just a game and the better team won. We may lose to many other teams but why is so much importance given to the loss to India. God willing, we will emerge stronger and win future matches against all teams".

I was very impressed. Pak captain making sensible comments in Pak (vs in India where people will say anything to grab media headlines and popularity). My respect from him went up.

Fast forward another few days and another video interview of Afridi shows up on FB. This time he is a completely changed person and his comments go something like this.

"Media in India is very biased. Our media is 100 times better than them. Indian media is very negative. Indians don't have big hearts. There is no hope of a bright future with India and talks will not achieve anything....."

wow!!! If I had not see the video myself I might have even blamed it on media distortion but no. He meant each and every word he said. Next day, after the furore, he claimed to have been mis-quoted etc etc. The damage was done. What a person!!! I don't respect him any more. Not because he said something against India but because how can you be so negative and such a pathetic person.

Next few days he kept denying but in my opinion the damage was done and he lost all credibility in my eyes. I don't know what his compulsions were but what he said and how he said it was not justified.