Is Shahid Afridi the Best Choice to Lead Pakistan in the World Cup?

After Shahid Afridi’s amazing whirlwind beauty of an innings against New Zealand today, I am feeling more upbeat on Shahid Afridi than ever. Rumour has it that others are too and he may be finally named as Pakistan’s team captain for the 2011 ICC World Cup Cricket.

With 22 days left to the tournament, every other team except Pakistan has announced their captain. Not a distinction that one would want. So, the sooner we name a captain, the better. More than anyone else, the team needs to know so that they can wrap their mind around the idea of whoever it is.

Shahid Afridi 65 Runs Of 25 Balls Vs New Zealand, 3rd ODI

PCB claims Aamir had played unoffical match

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) reached the conclusion that suspended fast-bowler Mohammad Amir was playing in an unofficial match and hence he did not violate the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) anti-corruption code of conduct.

Amir, along with Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif, has been barred from all cricket activities until a decision on the spot-fixing case is reached.

“The match that Amir bowled in was an unofficial match between two clubs that are not registered with the Rawalpindi Cricket Association,” said the PCB in a statement. “It was also found that no PCB official was present at the venue when the player took part in the game.”

The PCB also confirmed that the team sheets prepared prior to the match did not contain Amir’s name nor was his name listed with any side participating in the tournament. “This game was not part of any official tournament. The PCB has again advised all regional bodies to ensure strict compliance of the ICC directives regarding the three suspended players.”

“It was merely a practice match against a so called Army XI side which has some randomly picked players who were present there at the Pindi Stadium,” Rawalpindi head coach Sabhi Azhar told The Express Tribune. “I wasn’t even present there and when I reached Amir wasn’t there and had returned after bowling some four overs.”

The ICC had written to the PCB asking for details as to why Amir appeared in a friendly club match in Rawalpindi on Monday.

PCB will announce shahid afridi as captain in a week time

The hottest issue of the new captain of Pakistan cricket team for the upcoming world cup seems to be over as Ijaz Butt is now ready to retain Shahid Afridi as captain.

 When everybody is favouring Misbah-ul-Haq as new skipper and even Pakistan Cricket Board officials also tipping Misbah as Pakistan skipper in the world cup, source in the PCB told The Sports Encounter scribe here that despite of all the negativity, Ijaz Butt is not ready to change the skipper for the huge tournament like world cup.

PCB chairman Ijaz Butt is in New Zealand these days with Pakistan cricket team and during the course he has held meetings with team officials, management and players and discussed the issue of captaincy.

Former skipper Younus Khan also cast his vote in favour of Misbah-ul-Haq for captaincy but other senior players like Abdul Razzaq, Umar Gul and Shoaib Akhtar put their faith in Afridi to continue as skipper of Pakistan.

Ijaz Butt is not happy with performance and attitude of Shahid Afridi for his repeated violation of the board’s instructions but the PCB chairman is not willing to take any chances for the world cup and will announce the name of the captain this week.PCB also facing stiff pressure from the sponsors who already invested heavy amount on the Pakistani team as they took Afridi in their ad campaigns for the world cup and late announcement of the skipper may cost those companies millions of rupees.

World cup: Vaughan puts money on India, Pakistan

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan says his money is on India or Pakistan to win the upcoming cricket World Cup.

The former captain said he was sure that one of the four teams from the subcontinent would win the World Cup. He says that Bangladesh was not good enough yet, and the current crop of Sri Lankan players are not up to the mark. He termed India as the clear favourite, however he said that Pakistan was another team to watch out for.

In an online ODI preview, Vaughan praised India’s Virender Sehwag as a match winner:

People talk about him as one of the great entertainers but that only tells half the story. Those big sixes at the top of the order are great to watch but dispatching the opening bowlers to every part of the ground also puts the opposition under huge pressure from very early on. He scores plenty of runs and he scores them very quickly and is probably the player in world cricket who is most capable of winning a match on his own.

On Pakistan, Vaughan said that the team may be missing three crucial players but even without them there is enough talent to make a win possible. According to him, Pakistan will go with Misbahul Haq as their captain.