Afridi confident of retaining title

KARACHI: Pakistan’s Twenty20 captain Shahid Afridi has labelled his side strong contenders to lift the forthcoming World Twenty20 in the West Indies following a strenuous training camp and thus defend the title they won in England last year.

Pakistan’s run-in to the event has been marred by injuries, punishments and appeals but Afridi is confident that an improvement in the field has been achieved during the training camp and with that, the team stands a good chance.

“By improving our fielding and not giving away extra runs, I can say with confidence that our team has come into shape and fully prepared to take the challenge,” said Afridi. “We’ve also made our utmost efforts to make our team a well-knit unit and I’m confident that the communication gap that existed before is no more.” Afridi also said that by missing the IPL, the Pakistani players will be fresher compared to their opponents and the extra time spent in the training camp instead will allow them to prepare psychologically for the event.

Added pressure

Afridi vowed to carry his brilliance into the event despite the added burden of captaincy. “The added pressure is always there on every captain but I feel differently to that. Unless the captain leads from the front, a team can’t deliver. I’ve always said that a captain’s own performance is very important and I’m sure that apart from me, other senior players in the team will perform to help Pakistan retain the title.”