Petition filed against Afridi’s autobiography ‘Game Changer’

A petition has been filed in the Sindh High Court, against former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi’s autobiography ‘Game Changer’, seeking a ban on the book due to derogatory remarks towards former cricketers.

According to details, Advocate Abdul Jaleel Khan filed the petition because of the defaming words used in the book.

“Shahid Afridi, in his book, used the term like ‘small man’ for legendary batsman Javed Miandad and ‘saryal (burnt up)’ for former Indian opener Gautum Gambhir which are defaming words. He has offended his fans as well as hurt reputation of the game,” the petition stated.

The swashbuckling all-rounder has claimed in his autobiography that the former coach of Pakistan team, Javed Miandad did not let him participate in the batting practice before the Chennai Test against India in 1999.

“The tussle had started even before the series kicked off. Miandad had developed a strong opinion against me...in fact, the day before I went to bat, Miandad didn’t even give me any net practice. So I had to practice on a stringed ball, alone, away from my teammates,” Afridi wrote in his book.

Afridi also revealed that Miandad forced him to praise him during the presentation ceremony, which led to the all-rounder losing respect for the batting legend.

“That day I lost all my respect for Javed Miandad, supposedly one of the greats of the game but in reality, a small man,” he said.

Regarding Gambhir, Afridi wrote: “Gambhir behaves like he’s a cross between Don Bradman & James Bond. In Karachi we call guys like him saryal (burnt up). It’s simple, I like happy, positive people. Doesn’t matter if they are aggressive or competitive, but you have to be positive and Gambhir wasn’t.”

The petition also pointed out the discrepancy in the former all-rounder’s age.  

“In his book, Shahid Afridi has shown his birthday as 1975 whereas ICC, PCB and other pertaining institutions had declared him the record holder for being the youngest player to make fastest century aged 16 in 1996,” it added.  

In a chapter of his book, Afridi wrote that he was born in 1975, making him aged 21 in his debut match, bearing his mind that he started his ODI career in October 1996. This makes him, more or less, five years older as compared to official records — where his date of birth is March 1, 1980.

"Also, for the record, I was just nineteen, and not sixteen like they claim. I was born in 1975. So, yes, the authorities stated my age incorrectly,” the Karachi-born wrote in his autobiography.