Ads 468x60px

Friday, December 17, 2010

Shahid Afridi dreams of ending career as World Cup-winning captain

 
Shahid Afridi, captain of Pakistan’s ODI cricket team, admits that 2010 has been a challenging year for the Pakistan cricket team, but is hopeful that the new year will be different and that he and his team will “give Pakistan cricket the place it deserves.”
Talking to the media at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, the Pakistani skipper said that winning the World Cup for his country had always been his biggest ambition.
“Part of that ambition was fulfilled last year when we won the T20 World Cup in England,” said Afridi, “but as captain, I would love to end my career having led the side to the World Cup title next year in the subcontinent.”
Pakistan’s cricketing year in 2011 will begin with a Test series against New Zealand, as part of its tour of New Zealand that begins on December 26. The remainder of 2010 will see the two teams play a series of three T20 matches. Afridi thinks the timing of the New Zealand tour is perfect for the Pakistanis to brush up their form before the World Cup.

"I am sure that this tour will enhance the confidence of our players and that would reflect in the World Cup,” said Afridi. “Playing in difficult batting conditions in New Zealand and then on the subcontinental pitches in the World Cup will be something our players will relish."

He is also sure that the Kiwis feel the same way about the upcoming tour, and that will make for an exciting series.
"If we can take advantage of the pressure the Kiwis are feeling right now after being beaten by Bangladesh and India, then I am sure our players will go into the World Cup as a confident lot," he added.
On Pakistan’s preparations for the World Cup, Afridi stated that they had “already accomplished 90 percent of the task of finalizing our squad for the World Cup.”

The shining talents with a dark edge


Pakistan's Shahid Afridi and his teammates will bring plenty of action for to their upcoming New Zealand tour. Photo / APHere's a thought: what should we expect of the Pakistan tourists when they arrive on Sunday?
They're in New Zealand for a decent length of time, with three T20s, a couple of tests and six ODIs to round things off in preparation for the World Cup starting in mid-February.
In terms of producing gifted young cricketers, a case can be mounted that they are second only to India. The problem in recent times is not enough of them go on to make a significant difference.
There's also a large dark corner in the Pakistani dressing room, which we'll come to in a moment.
This time three different squads are being named.
Pakistan won the world T20 title in England last year on a wave of sympathy after having their ability to host international cricket ripped away in the wake of the Lahore terror attack 21 months ago.
They can play the shortest form as well as anyone, armed as they are with handy batsmen, explosive hitters for the latter stages and some decent bowlers.Their fielding is notoriously hit and miss, but they should be formidable opposition in the three T20s between Boxing Day and December 30 when they will be led by one of the game's more spectacular, if erratic, entertainers, Shahid Afridi.
The two tests will reveal how much Pakistan are missing their three suspended players, new-ball kingpins Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer, and senior batsman Salman Butt.
The test squad will be led by Misbah-ul-Haq, a 36-year-old who has been in and out of the national side for some time.
He hit three successive half-centuries in Dubai last month as Pakistan drew their two-test series with South Africa.
Misbah is skipper largely because he's kept his nose clean amid the squabbling which has been an all-too-common feature of Pakistani cricket in recent years. He is not seen as a divisive figure.
He will have the terrific Younis Khan as his senior batsman, a player with a tremendous record.
Younis hit his 17th test 100 in his most recent innings in Dubai against the South Africans, boasting a test average in excess of 50 and a well-deserved reputation as a scrapper.
Gifted young Umar Akmal is the other batsman with a pile of pressure on his 20-year-old shoulders.
Umar Gul is a workhorse with the ball, ageing Shoaib Akhtar is here for the short games but far from the typhoon of old; while Kuwait-born Tanvir Ahmed is a late bloomer who took six South African wickets on debut in Dubai last month. Wahab Riaz provides the left-arm option and performed tidily in England a few months ago.
An Akmal will be keeping, but not Kamran of a year ago, rather Umar's other brother, Adnan, who made his debut against South Africa in Dubai last month.
Wicketkeeping has been a problem area of late for Pakistan.
Kamran had a suspicious finger pointed at him after four chances were blown by the gloveman against Australia in what is now rated an extremely dodgy display in Sydney last summer.
Since then, Zulqarnain Haider shot through to London during the ODI series against the South Africans, claiming to have received threats and intimidation if he did not help fix games.
Kamral Akmal was not given clearance by the Pakistan board's integrity committee for this tour, nor was former captain (and that's not the elite club it is in most test-playing countries) Shoaib Malik. That sounds a damning indictment.
And here we come to the shadow hanging over the Pakistanis.
Three of their best players are suspended over the spot-fixing allegations during the England tour and several others are alleged to have been involved in illegal activities by Mazhar Majeed, the alleged middle-man in the match-fixing scandal.
Those players have not been named but are known to the Pakistan board.
So will any of them be in New Zealand? It's fair to think some will.
The spinoff from that is how the team will be received here?
Butt, Aamer and Asif were fingered over allegedly bowling no balls to specific instructions against England.
You can be sure the first no ball called at Eden Park on Boxing Day will get the treatment from the crowd.
And the further corollary to all that is how will the New Zealand public know if a game is on the level? That's the level, so to speak, to which this business has sunk.
Pakistan will face a New Zealand team in the dumps after 11 straight ODI defeats but back in familiar surroundings and desperate to buck up their game.
The tourists will figure this a grand opportunity to prove themselves on the park. "The confidence [from the South African series, where they also lost the ODIs 3-2] will help us play anywhere and it is a big boost for the self-belief of the players," Misbah said.
For a mix of reasons, this could be a tour here like no other.

Cricket: New cloud shadows Pakistan on eve of tour


NZC is still hopeful of good crowds despite the latest scandal. Photo / APNew Zealand Cricket remains optimistic of a high level of interest in Pakistan's tour starting next week despite yesterday's revelations of three more players being placed under match-fixing scrutiny.
Pakistan's board has told the three unnamed players to submit details of their assets and accounts.
This follows three senior players, former captain Salman Butt, and new ball kingpins Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer, being suspended by the International Cricket Council while allegations of spot fixing in tests against England this year are investigated.
Pakistan's ODI squad to play six games against New Zealand in January-February has been delayed in part while the latest trio are investigated.
However NZC's commercial manager Peter Dwan remains "reasonably optimistic" that the tour will attract plenty of interest.
The tour comprises three T20 internationals, starting on Boxing Day at Eden Park, two tests and the ODI series to finish."We can't change what is happening [the spot fixing allegations]," Dwan said last night. "All we can do is go to the market with a product we think is very compelling - a highly entertaining series of T20, then a good test series followed by ODIs of our national team against very good sportsmen who are successful on the pitch."
Pakistan's ODI squad and preliminary group for the February-March World Cup on the subcontinent cannot be named until receiving a clearance from that country's board's integrity committee.
Dwan said one consideration in terms of possible crowd sizes was the walkup factor, and he said particularly in Auckland and Wellington that number had been as high as 8000-10,000 on match days.
The Boxing Day game has been compared with about five other December 26 fixtures against a range of teams, including the West Indies, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Dwan said it was tracking second at this stage in comparative terms for anticipated spectator interest.
At the time of the initial allegations on Pakistan's tour of England in the middle of the year, NZC did a survey of "cricket-interested" people asking if the allegations would affect their intention to watch Pakistan.
"About 75-80 per cent said no, they were still going," Dwan said.
The type of fans attracted to the various international forms vary, ranging from purists with a deep knowledge of and passion for the game to what Dwan called "cricket-tolerant event-goers".
"T20 is a sport entertainment product and the biggest reason for people going is to see dynamic action, and the Pakistan team for the T20 is really strong.
"At the other end, with tests, we may find people who will go 'I don't particularly want to watch that team because I'm not sure about their setup and the way they play'."
The other perspective will be in watching how New Zealand get out of their present rut in their only home international series. That should pique interest.
"A lot of the public are disappointed with the way the New Zealand team has played over the last few months but also remember in August they were ranked No 2 in the world [in ODIs]," Dwan said. "Those guys have to win back a lot of support by performance, but there's a strong degree of it for them from within New Zealand, no matter who they're playing."

ICC asks Butt to file fresh reply on spot-fixing charges

The International Cricket Council has rejected Salman Butt's reply on charges of spot-fixing against him and has asked the suspended Pakistan captain to file a fresh response by Friday.

The ICC on Thursday returned the 40-page reply filed by Butt's lawyers to the charges laid out against him. "The ICC said the reply was not acceptable to them and it was just enough to reject the allegations made against him by the ICC anti-corruption unit," Aftab Gul a lawyer said on Friday.

Gul, who was on Butt's legal team, also made it clear he had finally withdrawn from representing the former captain as had another lawyer Shahid Saeed.

"As far as I know now Aitzaz Ahsan is handling his case," Gul said.

Sources said the ICC, in a terse reply to Butt, said it was not amused by his strong worded and hard hitting reply that was sent to them earlier this week.

"Butt has now been told to send a fresh reply to the chargesheet by later tonight despite it being a public holiday in Dubai as well in Pakistan due to Ashura," a source disclosed.

Butt's lawyer Shahid Saeed, in an earlier statement, said that in the reply filed with the ICC, the former Pakistan captain had rejected all allegations against him.

Saeed had also criticised ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat for giving a statement on the spot-fixing issue although charges have still not been proven against the three suspended Pakistani players -- Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif.

Butt was unavailable for comments but the source said the ICC had indicated that if it didn't get a fresh reply by late Friday it would be compelled to take a one-sided decision and Butt would lose his right to defend himself.

"Butt is clearly in a tight position right now and since it is a holiday in Pakistan it seems improbable that his lawyers would be able to file a fresh reply by later today."

Asif and Amir are being represented by different lawyers.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...