It's been hard work, but Afridi has found a way

Shaheen Shah Afridi has probably not been among the best bowlers at the World Cup. Yet, he is the joint-highest wicket-taker, going at an acceptable 5.22 an over and taking a wicket every 23 balls.

It is an achievement more remarkable than it looks. Firstly, because it is easier to isolate a bowler in a one-man show than a batter. A batter can still bat through an innings even if the others have not turned up; a bowler gets to bowl only ten overs and the batters can sit on them if they know others are not in form. Rashid Khan, for example, knows that feeling, and has to consistently fight for success.

With Naseem Shah injured, and with Pakistan's spinners arguably the poorest at the World Cup, it is easy to play Afridi out and then cash in on the others. Afridi is no stranger to bowling the aggressive lengths to counter that, but there has hardly been swing on offer at venues Pakistan have played in.

There is a reason why Afridi, on Tuesday, became the quickest fast bowler to 100 ODI wickets, beating his bowling twin Mitchell Starc by one match. There is a reason he has the best strike rate bar Sandeep Lamichhane in that 100-wicket club. His approach is direct: bowl fast, bowl straight, swing it, hit the stumps or the pads if they come in the way. Coming into this World Cup, Afridi had taken 34 of his 86 wickets inside the powerplay, which is with the new, swinging ball.

As you expect with such bowlers - Starc is another - their career is one spectacular highlights reel.

This World Cup has been harder work. When he tried his usual method, the results were not great, especially against India when the problems of a thin attack were compounded by a small total to defend. So he had no option but to attack. At the end of the India game, his figures for the tournament were an average of 34.75 and economy of 6.31.

"Not a surprise because it doesn't swing that much in the IPL also," Afridi said when asked if he was surprised at the lack of swing. "I think this ball is also slightly different. It's not just me, all left-arm fast bowlers, even Mitchell Starc and Trent Boult [are finding it difficult]. I am trying to swing it, but it is not going that much. So length is crucial."

In the next match, Afridi cut the number of full balls in the powerplay to a third. He moved less into the fuller part of the hard-length band and more into the shorter part. It is a subtle difference: from six-to-seven metres to seven-to-nine metres.

This is what Jasprit Bumrah and Josh Hazlewood, perhaps the two bowlers one would like to emulate, have been doing. But Naseem was the Hazlewood to Afridi's Starc; now Afridi had to do both the jobs. It is amazing how accurate elite international bowlers are: they are deliberate enough to create two zones in a three-metre zone, and move between those depending on conditions.

Afridi had to wait for his wickets. Counting the two in the match against Bangladesh, one of every four wickets for him has come in the powerplay. Even when he got a first-over wicket against Bangladesh, it wasn't his usual full, swinging delivery. It was pitched bang on the seven-metre spot. Sometimes, you have to hit the knee roll and not the shin. This World Cup has been the knee-roll World Cup.

Thanks to a dry and abrasive square, there was reverse to be had later, with which Afridi knocked off Bangladesh's best batter, Mahmudullah, in a manner that will add to the highlights reel. Around the wicket, angling it in, then taking it away, almost Wasim Akram-like.

In finding ways to take wickets with hard lengths and in the middle overs, Afridi has personally gone past perhaps the first stumbling block in his limited-overs international career. Once Naseem is back, Afridi can probably get more attacking, but having overcome adversity in this World Cup will only leave him a better bowler. And while the team performance remains a disappointing one, perhaps in a quiet moment, he will be slightly more satisfied that he has found a way.