Game Changer is the riveting memoir of Shahid Afridi, one of modern cricket's most controversial and accomplished practitioners. In 1996, as a teenager, Afridi shot to fame after hammering the fastest ODI century at the time. One of the world's greatest all-rounders, today, he holds the distinction of having hit the most number of sixes in the history of ODI cricket scooping the most wickets in T20s and winning the most player-of-the match awards in the same format. From his humble beginnings in the mountains of Pakistan's unruly northwest to the mean streets of Karachi and the county parks of southern England, Afridi tells his life story just the way he bats - instinctively, candidly and with no holds barred. In a career as unpredictable as his leg-break googlies and 'boom-boom' power hitting, Afridi has been many things - the lost kid focused on pulling his parents out of poverty, the desperate captain trying not to snitch on his corrupt teammates, the gallant Pashtun centurion staring down a hostile Indian crowd, and the bad boy at the centre of a ball-tampering scandal. In Game Changer, he sets the record straight once and for all. A must-read not only for his legion of fans across the world but also for those interested in cricket and Pakistan's future.
Author(s): Shahid Afridi, Wajahat S. Khan
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers India
Year: 2019
Language: English
Pages: 175
Cover......Page 2
Title......Page 3
Dedication......Page 4
Contents......Page 5
Foreword......Page 7
Preface......Page 11
Introduction......Page 13
1. Taking a Stance......Page 17
2. In the Beginning, Just War and Cricket......Page 18
3. School Cricket, Minus the School......Page 22
4. The Karachi Cricket Cult......Page 25
5. Dreams, Street Cred and a Brutal Wake-Up Call......Page 28
6. All the World Is a Stock Market......Page 30
7. A First, a Trial, Then Another First......Page 33
8. The Insomniac’s Dream Debut......Page 36
9. The Quest Begins......Page 41
10. Pathan vs Hindustan......Page 44
11. Threats and Treats, Indian and Homegrown......Page 48
12. Ignominy in England......Page 52
13. Decline......Page 55
14. The Comeback King......Page 58
15. Awkward and Oval......Page 61
16. The Boy and Bob......Page 64
17. Skipper, Victim, Soldier, Terror......Page 69
18. The Strain of Command......Page 73
19. Captaincy and Chaos......Page 76
20. Palace Intrigues......Page 79
21. Trials and Liars......Page 83
22. Players, Power and Fratricide......Page 87
23. Batting India Is Battling India......Page 91
24. Sledging, Tampering and the Unforgettables......Page 95
25. Visualization, Health and Adaptability......Page 99
26. Shortchanging Pakistan......Page 102
27. India 2.0......Page 104
28. The Dry Talent Pipeline......Page 110
29. Predictable Unpredictability......Page 115
30. Temperament, Truth and Leadership......Page 118
31. The Lost Kingdom......Page 120
32. Politics Ain’t for Pathans......Page 123
33. Soldiering on......Page 126
34. Fun, Fans and Fanatics......Page 128
35. A Tardy Ending......Page 131
36. Happiness, Faith and Doubt......Page 136
37. The Second Innings......Page 140
38. Naya Pakistan, Purana Lala......Page 144
Notes......Page 147
Index......Page 148
Photographic Inserts......Page 158
Acknowledgements......Page 157
About the Book......Page 171
About the Author......Page 172
Praise for Shahid Afridi......Page 173
Copyright......Page 175
