Flamboyant Pakistan captain, Shahid Afridi, has urged the whole team to play its role in the soon to begin World Cup as he reckoned “cricket is a total team game not a one-man show”.
“If we are successful it will be to the credit of the entire team and if we fail this would also be responsibility of entire team because cricket is a total team game not a one-man show", said Afridi, who has recently led the side to their first ODI series win since 2008.
The 30 year old, who was named as Pakistan captain for the ICC 2011 World Cup, said that the team is almost ready for the extravaganza and if the whole team plays its part in the tournament, then they will do very well.
"We have completed 90 per cent of our preparations for this big competition”, said Afridi. “And if everyone puts up his hand we will do very well in the World Cup”, added the aggressive batsman.
The right-arm leg-break bowler stressed that the final power-play overs will be crucial in determining the outcome of game and the side, which would be able to sustain the pressure of bowling in those five overs will find its way to the knockout stages of the tournament.
Afridi, who will playing in his fourth World Cup, conceded that the bowling department of Pakistan also needs to improve in this area.
"We are working hard on improving our bowling and options for the final power play overs for this World Cup. This is an area we need to improve", Afridi told reporters here.
The explosive all-rounder said that Pakistan has got a good combination for the World Cup campaign and was hopeful the side would bring some good news to the stressed fans. He further added that the six-week long extravaganza is all about keeping the nerves in pressure situations.
Besides Pakistan’s poor team performance, Afridi’s individual performance has also been under fire but the hard-hitter vowed to respond to his critics with his performance in the mega event.
The Afridi-led Pakistan team will leave for Bangladesh on Thursday night, where they will play official World Cup warm-up matches before heading to Sri Lanka for group matches.
