LONDON: Aggression, says Shahid Afridi, is the reason why he has emerged as the most feared cricketer in the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 championship here.

I’m an aggressive player and want to play tough cricket whenever I’m on the field, said the experienced all-rounder after leading Pakistan into the final with a high-voltage performance against South Africa in an exciting semifinal at Trent Bridge.

Afridi, 29, smashed a career-best 51 and then took 2-16 to dump the Proteas out of the tournament. In the process, he also gave veteran South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis a flying kiss.

Kallis walked up to him and stared after bowling a dot ball but the batsman responded coolly. “Kallis came close to me, I gave him a kiss,” Afridi said. “A flying kiss.” It was this calmness that had been the missing ingredient in Afridi’s batting in recent times. His last 50 in any format of the game, came after 28 innings, against Zimbabwe almost 16 months ago. And the one before that was 19 innings earlier, against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi in 2007. At Trent Bridge, once again, Afridi was not really able to hit the ball out of the park. But he dealt with singles and doubles quite intelligently.

I tried to build my innings and score some singles as well as the big hits, he said. Afridi received a much-needed confidence-booster from his captain Younis Khan.

Younis promoted Afridi to No. 3 and told him to just go out there and play his natural game.

Younis has really supported me. He promoted me in the batting order and allowed me to play my natural game, telling me that I’m his main player. That really helped me a lot. said Afridi. The Karachi-based player said that he was really pleased to have regained his batting form. I’ve not been doing well with the bat during the last two, three years, he said. In the last two games I tried to stay on the wicket and that helped.

Pakistan will meet either Sri Lanka in the final at Lords today almost exactly 10 years after the day when they crashed to a disappointing defeat against Australia in the 1999 World Cup final at the same venue. Afridi was a member of that team that crumbled against the Aussies. This, however, the flamboyant all-rounder says he is ready to win the final for Pakistan. I’m ready for the final, he declared.

Meanwhile, British newspapers were all praise for Afridi on Friday. Be Afridi, be very Afridi, screamed a headline in the Sun. The spotlight is back on the charismatic all-rounder who was the best player of the tournament at the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa two years ago. One more match-winning show in the final and Afridi will forever confirm his status as one of the greatest legends of Pakistan cricket.