Shahid Afridi will lead Pakistan in the Twenty20 international against Sri Lanka, and it will mark a remarkable turnaround in the life of the allrounder. Huw Richards, in the New York Times, looks at his career which has seen him transform from the reckless to the responsible.

Afridi, 29, has had a career whose colorfulness is eclipsed among current players only by his turbulent erstwhile Pakistan teammate Shoaib Akhtar. Afridi’s extensive rap sheet includes a four-match ban for insulting opponents and a match umpire; a dressing room dispute with his captain and vice captain over his place in Pakistan’s batting order; sanctions after a girl was found in his room — his explanation that she was seeking his autograph was not accepted — and being fingered as the provocateur two years ago when Akhtar finally lost it and struck a teammate with a bat.

There was a brief, mysterious and never fully explained retirement from test cricket three years ago, and as recently as last year the Indian star Vangipurappu Laxman, his captain in the first Indian Premier League tournament, complained that “Afridi has no team ethics.”

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