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Whatever happened to Riaz Afridi and why did he only play one Test for Pakistan?

Always been a mystery
Though I did see him 3-4 years later in a domestic t20 tournament and he had gained like 50 pounds. Looked like Inzy
 
Some questions were being raised on his action.
But most importantly he gained a lot of weight and didnt care about himself. Aqib was furious and said that Riaz Afridi always gain weight when he goes to his village and this will hamper his chances.
 
wasimjunior said:
Good thread.

Remember him being quality at junior level.
Click to expand...

Slog said:
Always been a mystery
Though I did see him 3-4 years later in a domestic t20 tournament and he had gained like 50 pounds. Looked like Inzy
Click to expand...

Seemed like a pseudo-allrounder. Probably too much of a bits and pieces cricketer to succeed at Test cricket.

Not sure why he wasn't tried in LOI.
 
Bloody hell look at that bowling attack - Rana Naved, Riaz Afridi, Abdul Razzaq and Danish Kaneria.

How did we manage to win that Test ?!
 
Markhor said:
Bloody hell look at that bowling attack - Rana Naved, Riaz Afridi, Abdul Razzaq and Danish Kaneria.

How did we manage to win that Test ?!
Click to expand...

Rana Naved and Kaneria were above average bowlers for much of their careers. They prospered under Woolmer from 2004-2007 before declining around 2009.
 
Highest wicket take in u-19 wc 2004 with 19 wickets in 7 matches and Pakistan won that world cup.
Highest wicket taker in his first FC season taking 81 wickets.
Some ex cricketers like Aqib rated him even a better swing/seam bowler than Asif.
 
SarfiBabarHaris said:
Highest wicket take in u-19 wc 2004 with 19 wickets in 7 matches and Pakistan won that world cup.
Highest wicket taker in his first FC season taking 81 wickets.
Some ex cricketers like Aqib rated him even a better swing/seam bowler than Asif.
Click to expand...

Oh wow didn't know he had that much potential - sad to see how his career turned out.
 
msb314 said:
Oh really?

Cricinfo says he only played for Pakistan.

Is he in the national team of UAE or some random domestic/club team?
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He shifted to UAE in 2013 i guess. Aqib pushed for his selection in UAE team when he was UAE team's coach. Heard he has to do some time before he is eligible to play for UAE. We might see him in wc qualifiers playing for UAE.
 
@Saj

Would you have any inputs on what happened to him and his current status/whereabouts?
 
In my opinion the wc 2004 attack of Ali Imran pasha and Riaz Afridi is the best we have ever put in an u-19 world cup. Yes even better than Amir/Junaid in 2008.
 
Lol Inzamam looked fitter when he was in his late 30's vs Riaz who was in his early 20's. That is saying something
 
[MENTION=137804]msb314[/MENTION]

VThe last ball bowled in this video is by Riaz Afridi. Fitness was not that bad as in above video and action doesn't look dodgy too.
One of those cricketers who could have made it big but didnt

 
SarfiBabarHaris said:
In my opinion the wc 2004 attack of Ali Imran pasha and Riaz Afridi is the best we have ever put in an u-19 world cup. Yes even better than Amir/Junaid in 2008.
Click to expand...

Amir was ruled out of that tournament pretty early and I don't think Junaid got many games there either. Jamshaid and Anwar were also quality in 2006. One got lost in the domestic system somewhere and the other lost his swing totally after an action change.
 
Boi said:
Amir was ruled out of that tournament pretty early and I don't think Junaid got many games there either. Jamshaid and Anwar were also quality in 2006. One got lost in the domestic system somewhere and the other lost his swing totally after an action change.
Click to expand...

Yes Amir got ruled out because of dengue fever early in the tournament. Mohammad Rameez (Rawalpindi bowler) from 2008 world cup was good too. Pace with swing. Skiddy bowler. Unfortunately nepotism, injuries and a bit of Sohail Tanvir ruined him.

Btw interestingly only Wahab has a reasonable international career from the 2004 and 2006 crop while all others got lost somewhere.
 
Abdullah719 said:
Article from December last year.
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Damn that article also mentioned how Hasan Raza is set to be eligible for UAE.

Another player I guess who got lost in the system - I heard about his debut when he was only "14" years old.

Sad he couldn't make it either.
 
SarfiBabarHaris said:
[MENTION=137804]msb314[/MENTION]

VThe last ball bowled in this video is by Riaz Afridi. Fitness was not that bad as in above video and action doesn't look dodgy too.
One of those cricketers who could have made it big but didnt

Click to expand...

Yeah shame he couldn't make it.

That other kid Ali Imran Pasha looked good too - what happened to him?
 
Perhaps he should have been given some more chances. There are many players who didn't fulfil their potential for one reason or another. From what I remember Riaz did not look like anything special.
 
unfortunately inzimam was captain during his peak days and inzi was not ready to give youngsters a go..
 
msb314 said:
Yeah shame he couldn't make it.

That other kid Ali Imran Pasha looked good too - what happened to him?
Click to expand...

Not sure what happen to him but I played with him last week in the US, I knew he'd played high level cricket in pakistan but didn't realize who he was until I saw this thread couple days later.
 
Nastradamus said:
Not sure what happen to him but I played with him last week in the US, I knew he'd played high level cricket in pakistan but didn't realize who he was until I saw this thread couple days later.
Click to expand...

Oh wow - was he still good?

Did others know who he was?
 
DRsohail said:
unfortunately inzimam was captain during his peak days and inzi was not ready to give youngsters a go..
Click to expand...

Partially true but Rana Naved also made his debut in the same match and went on to play for half a decade.

Asif also made his debut a few months later and played for several years.
 
msb314 said:
Yeah shame he couldn't make it.

That other kid Ali Imran Pasha looked good too - what happened to him?
Click to expand...

sorry for the late reply.
Ali Imran had immense potential too. He is still playing for PIA and taking wickets but too old now so unfortunately we might never see him in Pakistani colors.
Like many Pakistani players nepotism and injuries ruined him.
 
msb314 said:
Partially true but Rana Naved also made his debut in the same match and went on to play for half a decade.

Asif also made his debut a few months later and played for several years.
Click to expand...

it means that ryaz afridi was himself to blame>>>??/agree,,,,he was fatty as some of the posters say..
 
I know riaz afridi personally and I can assure you that nowadays he only plays for fun and maybe money. He was a world Class bowler when he started his career but injustice (deserved a chance but never given a proper chance) and weight issue ruined him forever. He lost hope and like most of the players in Pakistan, performed harakiri and killed his own career

I saw him was in an academy in Peshawar playing football with his kids like an year ago, the guy has an inflated ego and attitude issues.

Although he himself was victim of politics and injustice and instead of learning from it and making sure others dont get mistreated he started nepotism himself according to some of the local players I met. The locals despise him because of his influence in FATA team selection and blame him and the selection management for nepotism as he kept pushing his brothers (and pals) for grade cricket every year when he was the captain of the FATA team. One of his brother (sundal afridi) was an ordinary bowler that kept getting selected for grade II because of him. Not sure if he is active nowadays but he was pretty ordinary.

Though his youngest brother (Shaheen Shah) is an excellent bowler. He is pretty tall and bowls at a very good pace. I played against him in a game and he was lightning. On those flat jamrud cricket pitches where the ball barely gets up to knee height, he kept getting tremendous bounce and bowled at blistering pace. One for the future
 
A-1 said:
I know riaz afridi personally and I can assure you that nowadays he only plays for fun and maybe money. He was a world Class bowler when he started his career but injustice (deserved a chance but never given a proper chance) and weight issue ruined him forever. He lost hope and like most of the players in Pakistan, performed harakiri and killed his own career

I saw him was in an academy in Peshawar playing football with his kids like an year ago, the guy has an inflated ego and attitude issues.

Although he himself was victim of politics and injustice and instead of learning from it and making sure others dont get mistreated he started nepotism himself according to some of the local players I met. The locals despise him because of his influence in FATA team selection and blame him and the selection management for nepotism as he kept pushing his brothers (and pals) for grade cricket every year when he was the captain of the FATA team. One of his brother (sundal afridi) was an ordinary bowler that kept getting selected for grade II because of him. Not sure if he is active nowadays but he was pretty ordinary.

Though his youngest brother (Shaheen Shah) is an excellent bowler. He is pretty tall and bowls at a very good pace. I played against him in a game and he was lightning. On those flat jamrud cricket pitches where the ball barely gets up to knee height, he kept getting tremendous bounce and bowled at blistering pace. One for the future
Click to expand...

Interesting regarding Shaheen, if you recall anything else please do mention it in this thread: http://www.pakpassion.net/ppforum/showthread.php?263391
 
A-1 said:
I know riaz afridi personally and I can assure you that nowadays he only plays for fun and maybe money. He was a world Class bowler when he started his career but injustice (deserved a chance but never given a proper chance) and weight issue ruined him forever. He lost hope and like most of the players in Pakistan, performed harakiri and killed his own career

I saw him was in an academy in Peshawar playing football with his kids like an year ago, the guy has an inflated ego and attitude issues.

Although he himself was victim of politics and injustice and instead of learning from it and making sure others dont get mistreated he started nepotism himself according to some of the local players I met. The locals despise him because of his influence in FATA team selection and blame him and the selection management for nepotism as he kept pushing his brothers (and pals) for grade cricket every year when he was the captain of the FATA team. One of his brother (sundal afridi) was an ordinary bowler that kept getting selected for grade II because of him. Not sure if he is active nowadays but he was pretty ordinary.

Though his youngest brother (Shaheen Shah) is an excellent bowler. He is pretty tall and bowls at a very good pace. I played against him in a game and he was lightning. On those flat jamrud cricket pitches where the ball barely gets up to knee height, he kept getting tremendous bounce and bowled at blistering pace. One for the future
Click to expand...

Nice and balanced comments. I have heard similar things about Riaz.
And nice to see encouraging comments about Shaheenfrom you.
 
Abdullah719 said:
Interesting regarding Shaheen, if you recall anything else please do mention it in this thread: http://www.pakpassion.net/ppforum/showthread.php?263391
Click to expand...

I played against him last year in a tournament in Jamrud Khyber Agency. A friend of mine asked me to open the batting for his team so I accepted his request and the team we were playing against had shaheen. We bowled them out cheaply (IIRC below 100 runs). So I opened the batting and he was the opening bowler

His first spell was decent, not much pace but good control. He didnt swing the ball as much and the slight swing he was getting was because of the new ball. Anyway he was decent and we were pretty careful initially. In jamrud the pitches are extremely flat and the teams usually turn to their spinners very quickly. They brought on spinners and we cruised along. When he was given the ball for his second spell I remember my batting partner telling me that he bowls that heavy ball once every over and watch out for it.

The first ball of his second spell was extremely quick, I didn't see the ball at all and i just said to myself ok that's the heavy ball for the over. The ball was old by the time he started his second spell so we weren't exactly expecting pace from him. The second ball was even quicker and it missed my helmet by a couple of cm. He was bowling at frighting pace and the bounce he was getting was unbelievable, the keeper was collecting the ball chest height. No swing but his pace was very impressive that entire over. I didn't see the ball at all and he got me out in the very next over. He started our collapse and got further 3 wickets on the trot and gave away just couple of runs. All of our batsmen were shell shocked and all of them were in awe of his pace. He ripped into our middle order and nearly won the game for his team

SarfiBabarHaris said:
Nice and balanced comments. I have heard similar things about Riaz.
And nice to see encouraging comments about Shaheenfrom you.
Click to expand...

Riaz destroyed himself but I hope shaheen doesn't follow his path
 
Shaheens mentor and coach
What he couldn’t achieve he is making his younger brother does it
 
Shaheen belongs to the Zakhakhel Afridi tribe of the Pashtuns.[8] He grew up in Landi Kotal, a town in Khyber District, Pakistan, on the border with Afghanistan. He is the youngest of seven brothers; his eldest brother, 15 years his senior, is Riaz Afridi who played a solitary Test match for Pakistan in 2004.[5] Shaheen started his cricket career from the Tatara Ground in Landi Kotal, which is named after the nearby Tatara hills.[9]

Riaz Afridi introduced Shaheen to hard-ball cricket at the FATA Under-16 trials in 2015, with Shaheen having played only tennis-ball cricket until then.[1] Success at this level led Shaheen to selection for the Under-16 tour of Australia in November 2015 where he played his part with four wickets in the 2–1 victories in the One-Day and Twenty20 series.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaheen_Afridi
 
SarfiBabarHaris said:
Highest wicket take in u-19 wc 2004 with 19 wickets in 7 matches and Pakistan won that world cup.
Highest wicket taker in his first FC season taking 81 wickets.
Some ex cricketers like Aqib rated him even a better swing/seam bowler than Asif.
Click to expand...




Nope, he was not, he was a one trick pony i.e. had an excellent out swinger but beyond that: he did not have an inswinger/even could not seam it in, average pace was not even in the 80's (mostly 70's), and his fitness was atrocious!

Comparing him to Asif is unfair and saying he was probably better than him is just crazy.

Inzi was a super fit guy if we compare him to Riaz Afridi, who looked like a proper wrestler. Yes, he could have gotten more chances but at that pace and with Akhtar, Sami, Shabbir etc. all around, he was not gonna get any more chances unless he at least improved his fitness.
 
Monsee said:
Nope, he was not, he was a one trick pony i.e. had an excellent out swinger but beyond that: he did not have an inswinger/even could not seam it in, average pace was not even in the 80's (mostly 70's), and his fitness was atrocious!

Comparing him to Asif is unfair and saying he was probably better than him is just crazy.

Inzi was a super fit guy if we compare him to Riaz Afridi, who looked like a proper wrestler. Yes, he could have gotten more chances but at that pace and with Akhtar, Sami, Shabbir etc. all around, he was not gonna get any more chances unless he at least improved his fitness.
Click to expand...

Yeah his fitness became atrocious after his first season. He wasnt that bad in the u-19 world cup. Watch @ 1:48 below.

Yes a lethal outswinger and could seam it in too as far as i remember. I dont have any footage of him where he is seaming it in, there are only 1-2 videos of him on internet and none from the test match.

I think lack of fitness and a careless attitude led to his downfall otherwise being the highest wicket taker in u-19 world cup and then highest wicket taker with 81 wickets in his first season showed great signs.

Btw the other guy in video Ali Imran was a great prospect.

 
SarfiBabarHaris said:
Yeah his fitness became atrocious after his first season. He wasnt that bad in the u-19 world cup. Watch @ 1:48 below.

Yes a lethal outswinger and could seam it in too as far as i remember. I dont have any footage of him where he is seaming it in, there are only 1-2 videos of him on internet and none from the test match.

I think lack of fitness and a careless attitude led to his downfall otherwise being the highest wicket taker in u-19 world cup and then highest wicket taker with 81 wickets in his first season showed great signs.

Btw the other guy in video Ali Imran was a great prospect.

Click to expand...




I watched most of those matches live and don't recall Riaz Afridi seaming/swinging in (I could be wrong), he was mostly a one trick bowler and since he was built strong and pretty mature; his domination in U19 level was no surprise. Not much to say about his 81 wickets in domestic because don't know what kind of pitches he was bowling on.

Imran Pasha was faster and seemed far superior but was never given a chance due to his heignt and Mr. Phaasti aka Sami's emergence, oh how we wish it could have been the other way around :-)
 
Good old memories.

Glad his brother shaheen shah is succeeding in international cricket. Heard alot how he has helped shaheen shah in his teenage to improve his game .raiz was talented but could not focus on his fitness which was major let down for him
 
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