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Where do I pitch, quips Kumble
Indian spinner Anil Kumble, who took a lot of punishment at the hands of an extremely aggressive Shahid Afridi, at one stage went up to the Pakistan batsman and asked him, "where do I pitch the ball if you continue hitting like this".
- By K.R. Nayar Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:31 May 3, 2009
Lahore: Indian spinner Anil Kumble, who took a lot of punishment at the hands of an extremely aggressive Shahid Afridi, at one stage went up to the Pakistan batsman and asked him, "where do I pitch the ball if you continue hitting like this".
This was revealed by Afridi himself after he had scored his fourth Test hundred off only 78 balls. He was dismissed for 103 (80 balls).
Asked what had inspired the thunderous innings Afridi said: "All that I did was to play my natural game. I got the runs because I played with a positive frame of mind."
Did he aim at scoring the fastest century in Test cricket?
"Frankly, I did not have any such thoughts going through my mind," he said.
Afridi also refused to rate this innings as one of his best.
"My best is still the 141 I scored against India in Chennai. I was not to be in the team and I got selected because Wasim Akram backed me. That century was the most pleasing innings of my career," he revealed.
Afridi had slowed down after reaching 90s, perhaps not wanting to get out in the nineties like in a recent innings?
The batsman confirmed this with an affirmative 'yes.'
" Moreover the field also got spread out and I decided to get the runs through ground shots," he said.
"However, Afridi reached his century through a straight six. Afridi also candidly admitted that he wanted to hit six sixes.
"After the fourth six the ball got wet and Harbhajan's fifth ball did not spin as much as I wanted it to. That's why I did not get full control over that shot."
Kamran Akmal, who took over from Afridi and hit 11 fours and two sixes in his 108-minute century, said: "I was totally shocked when I was told after the innings that I took only 81 balls and completed the century."
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