Parallel dreams

One common factor, however, remained. For both, across the bridge of two years, there was no looking back in the field that they had chosen. Prasad, during a very busy 1996-97 had borne the brunt of the Indian bowling attack after opening partner Javagal Srinath was out injured, and bagged the `Cricketer of the Year’. Afridi, similarly, rode the crests of the fame of being the new kid on the block as he continued to rewrite the orthodox books of cricket, abandoning all conventional wisdom to splay opposition bowlers across cricket grounds worldwide even as he perfected the fastest spin delivery.

A common cause — to take their teams to success and yet more success. And then both faltered, almost at the same time. Even as the 16 months of continuous bowling had inevitably taken their toll on Prasad by mid-1997, Shahid Afridi fell victim to a host of controversies surrounding his personal life ranging from doubts over his age to fines for changing roommates and missing tour practises to the alleged harassment of three girls during an Air Lanka flight, which coupled with his perceived lack of technique, relegated him to an unenviable position.

The change in fortunes, which came at about the same points in their careers, struck both in different ways. While the six footed bowler faded away into domesticity and fatherhood during a forced exile with an unexplained injury, the fiery Pathan became the centre of attraction for his off-the-field activities. In both cases the headlines screamed: “the end of the road?”

And then destiny did what destiny is vaunt to do — it brought the two cricketers from the opposite sides of the Radcliffian line to a crossroads where there paths overlapped once again — in the Test match at Chennai. A career best haul of six wickets for one and the first Test century for the other life, indeed, has come full circle.