Pakistan

No need for seniors on the England tour: Afridi

Shahid Afridi has asked the PCB to continue to rely on the current team’s youngsters for the remaining England tour.

Fawad Hussain July 29, 2010

KARACHI: Pakistan One Day International and Twenty20 captain, Shahid Afridi has asked the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to continue to rely on the current team’s youngsters for the remaining England tour saying that they have shown satisfactory performance on the sojourn so far.

The former Test captain, who retired after Pakistan lost the first Test against Australia, feels that the inclusion of the senior players would not do any wonders but instead disturb the winning combination.

“Youngsters should be given preference as they have managed to impress us all with their performance. There is no need for the seniors in the remaining England tour,” said Afridi after his return to Karachi on Tuesday night.

He believed the youngsters, especially Azhar Ali have proved that they have a bright future and that dropping them will dismantle their confidence.

Retirement decision taken for the team

Defending his abrupt retirement decision from Test cricket in the middle of the series against Australia, Afridi said he took the decision in the best interest of the team.

“I wanted to give the youngsters a chance, it was not an emotional decision as I took it after giving a lot of thought,” said Afridi while adding that he never wanted the Test captaincy, and had only accepted it after being asked by the PCB chairman Ijaz Butt.

“The chairman offered me the Test leadership after he was impressed with my captaincy in the World Twenty20 in West Indies where the team finally looked like one unit,” added Afridi, who made his Test return after four years for the England tour. The batsman also claimed that he had made it clear to that he would quit the format if he did not feel comfortable, and the chairman agreed.

He further said that he was always in favour of Salman Butt as Test captain and that entrusting him with the team’s leadership was the right decision.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th, 2010.

COMMENTS (9)

Haad Ali | 13 years ago | Reply Dear Boom are you crazy they are not enough talented with no experience they can not fought with bounce of lords and Nottingham no one can ......... So pakistan have everything to lose no experiwnce no talent cheer up the worst is yet to come

arshad zubairi | 13 years ago | Reply I think he feels that our batting line is full of Tandulkar, Lara and Ponting.... One should realise that Yousuf and Younus is the requirement of the time and should be the part of the team. How many players in this team (leave two debutants) who are able to score 100 in any test?? One thing is very clear by this performance of team that we won not due to our good performance but due to bad performace of Australia..

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Yusaf Khan | 13 years ago | Reply Shahid Afridi should have not accepted the captain's post just to "check it out". And once you accept it you don't leave your team in a lurch after the first loss. If this was war it would have been akin to treason. The decision to quit was purely emotional because I can guarantee that if we have won he would never have "retired". Now Shahid "bhai" is saying play with youngsters! This is test cricket Shahid "bhai" and we need our two best batsmen: Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf. Ijaz Butt you have something to say?

arshad zubairi | 13 years ago | Reply Fully agree with Talha..

saif | 13 years ago | Reply yeah shahid bahi i think u did very gud dission becouse test cricket is not sute with you i think u can play all kind of cricket even that test but you should not play test cricket & my best whishes will be always with you

Muhammad Riaz | 13 years ago | Reply Afridi you are our National Hero. And we hope that you will prove again.

Sheheryar Khan | 13 years ago | Reply I beg to differ with Shahid Afridi on this regard. If the youngsters performed in one single match then this doesn't mean that seniors should be neglected. Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting cannot be ignored and opted out from the team when they are available, fully fit and going well. All youngsters including Umer Amin and Umer Akmal have failed. Aren't these two maestros batsmen better than all the current players who are filling the top six slots of batting line-up? It's high time that we, as a nation, learn to respect our heroes and give them their well-deserved respect and reverence.

SHAKOOR | 13 years ago | Reply Dear SHAHID you are realy a prestigious man. You have no woory about your retirement from test crickt. i trust on your this decision that you had took decision to retire from test cricket only for the better of PAKISTAN AND FOR JUNIOR PLAYERS. GOD BYEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

talha | 13 years ago | Reply Your decision was right as per your performance are concern, but we need real players at the number 3 and 4 position. We do have good youngsters in the team who have performed well in the last test but the bottom-line is this that we need experienced batsmen for winning and supporting the young ones like Muhammad Yousaf and Younus Khan.

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