But with three matches remaining, several players can still catch him
With his aggressive approach to batting and his penchant for hitting sixes, they said his game would be ideally suited to the Twenty20 format and true to form, Shahid Afridi has not disappointed as he sits on top of the Player of the Tournament ladder at the ICC World Twenty20.
But the 27-year-old Pakistan all-rounder has been impressing the crowds in South Africa more for his performances with the ball than with bat in hand.
His tricky brand of leg-spin has proved very successful so far and he is currently the second-leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 11 scalps. He is enjoying a remarkable average of 12.18 and his economy rate in the competition is 6.70, very useful for Twenty20 cricket.
With the bat, Afridi has not put together any big innings yet but the 85 runs he has scored in the tournament so far have come at an express pace – his strike-rate is 212.50 runs per 100 balls faced.
Afridi is currently on seven points in the Player of the Tournament log, just one ahead of a group of three players that includes Australia’s Stuart Clark, Morne Morkel of South Africa and Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka, although with the other two teams already knocked out, only leading wicket-taker Clark can displace Afridi at the top.
With just four teams left in the tournament, other players who could catch Afridi for the award are Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken and Matthew Hayden of Australia; Craig McMillan and Daniel Vettori of New Zealand; his own team-mates Misbah-ul-Haq, Yunus Khan and Shoaib Malik; and Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh of India.
So it’s all to play for as we head into the semi-finals in Cape Town and Durban tomorrow (Saturday).
It is interesting to note that despite Twenty20 cricket being hailed as a batsman’s game, there are five specialist bowlers in the top ten of the Player of the Tournament standings at this stage of the competition, as well as two others – Afridi and Jayasuriya – who are classed as genuine all-rounders.
They have proved that if bowlers mix their pace and length cleverly they can still do some damage in this format of the game.
The player of the tournament is decided by the commentators for the host broadcaster, ESPN STAR Sports.
They nominate the player of the match for each game on a 3, 2, 1 basis, with three votes for the top performer, two for next best and one vote for the third choice. Those votes are then added together to produce the player of the tournament standings.
All matches, including the final, count towards those standings and the player with most votes at the end of the tournament receives a superb trophy.
Remaining fixtures in the ICC World Twenty20 South Africa 2007:
22 Sep – First semi-final, Pakistan v New Zealand, Cape Town (1300)
22 Sep – second semi-final, India v Australia, Durban (1800)
24 Sep – final, TBC v TBC, Johannesburg (1400)
Player of the Tournament Standings (as of 21 September, after Super Eight stage)
| Shahid Afridi (Pak) | 7 |
| Stuart Clark (Aus) | 6 |
| Sanath Jayasuriya (SL) | 6 |
| Morne Morkel (SA) | 6 |
| Brett Lee (Aus) | 5 |
| Craig McMillan (NZ) | 5 |
| Misbah-ul-Haq (Pak) | 5 |
| Yunus Khan (Pak) | 5 |
| Nathan Bracken (Aus) | 4 |
| Dilhara Fernando (SL) | 4 |
| Shoaib Malik (Pak) | 4 |
| Zunaed Siddique (Ban) | 3 |
| Rohit Sharma (Ind) | 3 |
| Chris Gayle (WI) | 3 |
| Mark Gillespie (NZ) | 3 |
| Matthew Hayden (Aus) | 3 |
| Justin Kemp (SA) | 3 |
| Mohammad Ashraful (Ban) | 3 |
| Mohammad Asif (Pak) | 3 |
| Albie Morkel (SA) | 3 |
| Kevin Pietersen (Eng) | 3 |
| Brendan Taylor (Zim) | 3 |
| Daniel Vettori (NZ) | 3 |
| Yuvraj Singh (Ind) | 3 |
| RP Singh (Ind) | 2 |
| Aftab Ahmed (Ban) | 2 |
| Gary Brent (Zim) | 2 |
| Elton Chigumbura (Zim) | 2 |
| Herschelle Gibbs (SA) | 2 |
| Brendon McCullum (NZ) | 2 |
| Darren Maddy (Eng) | 2 |
| Jehan Mubarak (SL) | 2 |
| Shaun Pollock (SA) | 2 |
| Virender Sehwag (Ind) | 2 |
| Ross Taylor (NZ) | 2 |
| Chaminda Vaas (SL) | 2 |
| Johan van der Wath (SA) | 2 |
| Lou Vincent (NZ) | 2 |
| Mohammad Hafeez (Pak) | 1 |
| MS Dhoni (Ind) | 1 |
| James Anderson (Eng) | 1 |
| Shane Bond (NZ) | 1 |
| Brad Hodge (Aus) | 1 |
| Mahela Jayawardena (SL) | 1 |
| Dimitri Mascarenhas (Eng) | 1 |
| Vernon Philander (SA) | 1 |
| Kumar Sangakkara (SL) | 1 |
| Shakib Al Hasan (Ban) | 1 |
| Graeme Smith (SA) | 1 |
| Vikram Solanki (Eng) | 1 |
| Robin Uthappa (Ind) | 1 |
| Fraser Watts (Sco) | 1 |
But with three matches remaining, several players can still catch him
With his aggressive approach to batting and his penchant for hitting sixes, they said his game would be ideally suited to the Twenty20 format and true to form, Shahid Afridi has not disappointed as he sits on top of the Player of the Tournament ladder at the ICC World Twenty20.
But the 27-year-old Pakistan all-rounder has been impressing the crowds in South Africa more for his performances with the ball than with bat in hand.
His tricky brand of leg-spin has proved very successful so far and he is currently the second-leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 11 scalps. He is enjoying a remarkable average of 12.18 and his economy rate in the competition is 6.70, very useful for Twenty20 cricket.
With the bat, Afridi has not put together any big innings yet but the 85 runs he has scored in the tournament so far have come at an express pace – his strike-rate is 212.50 runs per 100 balls faced.
Afridi is currently on seven points in the Player of the Tournament log, just one ahead of a group of three players that includes Australia’s Stuart Clark, Morne Morkel of South Africa and Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka, although with the other two teams already knocked out, only leading wicket-taker Clark can displace Afridi at the top.
With just four teams left in the tournament, other players who could catch Afridi for the award are Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken and Matthew Hayden of Australia; Craig McMillan and Daniel Vettori of New Zealand; his own team-mates Misbah-ul-Haq, Yunus Khan and Shoaib Malik; and Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh of India.
So it’s all to play for as we head into the semi-finals in Cape Town and Durban tomorrow (Saturday).
It is interesting to note that despite Twenty20 cricket being hailed as a batsman’s game, there are five specialist bowlers in the top ten of the Player of the Tournament standings at this stage of the competition, as well as two others – Afridi and Jayasuriya – who are classed as genuine all-rounders.
They have proved that if bowlers mix their pace and length cleverly they can still do some damage in this format of the game.
The player of the tournament is decided by the commentators for the host broadcaster, ESPN STAR Sports.
They nominate the player of the match for each game on a 3, 2, 1 basis, with three votes for the top performer, two for next best and one vote for the third choice. Those votes are then added together to produce the player of the tournament standings.
All matches, including the final, count towards those standings and the player with most votes at the end of the tournament receives a superb trophy.
Remaining fixtures in the ICC World Twenty20 South Africa 2007:
22 Sep – First semi-final, Pakistan v New Zealand, Cape Town (1300)
22 Sep – second semi-final, India v Australia, Durban (1800)
24 Sep – final, TBC v TBC, Johannesburg (1400)
Player of the Tournament Standings (as of 21 September, after Super Eight stage)
| Shahid Afridi (Pak) | 7 |
| Stuart Clark (Aus) | 6 |
| Sanath Jayasuriya (SL) | 6 |
| Morne Morkel (SA) | 6 |
| Brett Lee (Aus) | 5 |
| Craig McMillan (NZ) | 5 |
| Misbah-ul-Haq (Pak) | 5 |
| Yunus Khan (Pak) | 5 |
| Nathan Bracken (Aus) | 4 |
| Dilhara Fernando (SL) | 4 |
| Shoaib Malik (Pak) | 4 |
| Zunaed Siddique (Ban) | 3 |
| Rohit Sharma (Ind) | 3 |
| Chris Gayle (WI) | 3 |
| Mark Gillespie (NZ) | 3 |
| Matthew Hayden (Aus) | 3 |
| Justin Kemp (SA) | 3 |
| Mohammad Ashraful (Ban) | 3 |
| Mohammad Asif (Pak) | 3 |
| Albie Morkel (SA) | 3 |
| Kevin Pietersen (Eng) | 3 |
| Brendan Taylor (Zim) | 3 |
| Daniel Vettori (NZ) | 3 |
| Yuvraj Singh (Ind) | 3 |
| RP Singh (Ind) | 2 |
| Aftab Ahmed (Ban) | 2 |
| Gary Brent (Zim) | 2 |
| Elton Chigumbura (Zim) | 2 |
| Herschelle Gibbs (SA) | 2 |
| Brendon McCullum (NZ) | 2 |
| Darren Maddy (Eng) | 2 |
| Jehan Mubarak (SL) | 2 |
| Shaun Pollock (SA) | 2 |
| Virender Sehwag (Ind) | 2 |
| Ross Taylor (NZ) | 2 |
| Chaminda Vaas (SL) | 2 |
| Johan van der Wath (SA) | 2 |
| Lou Vincent (NZ) | 2 |
| Mohammad Hafeez (Pak) | 1 |
| MS Dhoni (Ind) | 1 |
| James Anderson (Eng) | 1 |
| Shane Bond (NZ) | 1 |
| Brad Hodge (Aus) | 1 |
| Mahela Jayawardena (SL) | 1 |
| Dimitri Mascarenhas (Eng) | 1 |
| Vernon Philander (SA) | 1 |
| Kumar Sangakkara (SL) | 1 |
| Shakib Al Hasan (Ban) | 1 |
| Graeme Smith (SA) | 1 |
| Vikram Solanki (Eng) | 1 |
| Robin Uthappa (Ind) | 1 |
| Fraser Watts (Sco) | 1 |
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