The Afridi affair

Once again the affair ends. The finest, stormiest ones never really finish so there is every chance Pakistan and Shahid Afridi will once again reunite but for now, time has been called and Afridi dropped.

In truth, the last two years have been as stable a time as any in an often torrid relationship. In his own words, Afridi lived in constant flux before that period; every tour, every match he thought his last. But since Inzamam-ul-Haq and Bob Woolmer came together, Afridi has been a shoo-in, a dead cert in their plans. Indeed, of the 53 ODIs Pakistan played since his recall in July 2004, Afridi played in 49. Two were missed for scuffing a pitch and two because of injury.

The confidence brought out something in him, didn't it? Something more than just numbers will tell you (they're not great but not poor either ) and more also than he had given us in the 184 ODIs before that period.

Most joyously this ethereality was captured on tours to Australia, India and the West Indies last year. If he wasn't harassing you with his bowling, he'd bully you with his bat. If he wasn't doing that, he'd be taunting you from the outfield to test his arm on a second run. And in the unlikely event that he wasn't doing any of the three, he'd been in your face, telling you how great he was and how crap you were.

But since the madcap retirement plan earlier in the year - the real reasons for which are still gossiped about - something has turned. Since then the mojo has has gone from his presence. He has appeared slower in the field, older even (even his captain sniggers at his official age), the chirping, at opponents and teammates, reduced, the buzz dimmed, the batting chancier and the bowling, though purposeful, lacking zest.

Failure and doubt do it to the most macho of men, as even Matthew Hayden would testify. Wasim Bari, chief selector and lover of numbers, justified the axing by pointing to a poor year and, true enough, Afridi's year has been abysmal. Bari added that domestically the form was poor though the door remains open were he to turn that around. If it really matters, 15 wickets from three matches at an average under ten isn't poor form, though admittedly the batting hasn't set the scene on fire.

But, as couples who keep getting back sometimes discover, issues don't vanish, they just become different. Previously, Afridi's approach to batting was the problem; now it's where he should bat. Is he an opener, a man for the lower-order or that least welcome and most disposable of types, a floater? This year, confusion has been heightened: he has arrived in seven different positions in only 14 innings and no more than three innings in one position. A card in Las Vegas might have been shuffled less.

He has blamed others in the past for making mistakes with him, while also acknowledging that he has erred. So it is this time. It is commonly known that he prefers to bat in the middle-order, at five. The management believes his best position - especially on the low, slow surfaces expected in the Caribbean next year - is opening, where he enjoyed much of his success in 2005. But he had a falling out with Younis Khan in Barbados precisely because he didn't want to open (he failed as opener in the first innings, scored a hundred in the second from seven).

For two matches in the Champions Trophy he got his wish, appearing at five, though then he dropped to eight at Mohali. Even domestically this season, he has played at six, seven and as an opener; he captained two of the three matches so presumably he decided the order. Is he being shuffled, or does he just not know where he should bat?

No answers have been offered from either side so, only a few months before a World Cup he is axed, receiving precisely the message that he always feared earlier in his career. Even if Pakistan do take him to the Caribbean, logic suggests the spark may best be triggered on home pitches against the West Indies, rather than inhospitable South African tracks against their pace attack.

Some will counter that this is fanciful schmaltz, how the jilted rationalise allowing the jilter back into their lives. But can anyone really stand up and argue that Afridi made no difference to the Pakistan side whatsoever these past two years? Only ten ODIs now remain before the World Cup, and in them Pakistan have dilemmas to resolve. Foremost among them is whether they can fall in love with Afridi all over again.