Afridi Available for Test Cricket

by Ubaid-ur-Rehman Awan

KARACHI: Shahid Afridi likely to resurrect his test career where he left it in 2006. Pakistan T20 skipper made aware the Pakistan Cricket Board Saturday that he is ready to be part of the test team in England where Pakistan due to play six test matches against England and Australia.

Talking exclusively to awansports.blogspot.com, Afridi said “I am ready to play for Pakistan in test matches during upcoming tour of England. Due to family commitments, I left the test cricket but now the country needs my services and I am ready to represent Pakistan in test matches again.”

Shahid Afridi due to meet PCB chairman Ejaz butt on 25th May in Lahore where both will discuss about the team formation for Asia cup and England tour. Ejaz Butt also said that the board will announce the captain for Asia cup and England tour on 25 May. Butt wanted a same captain in all three formats of the game and with Afridi’s willingness to play test matches, it is highly likely that Afridi will captain Pakistan in all three formats.

Afridi last played test match in 2006 at Nottingham against England and now he will restart his test career in England as well. On talking about the England tour, Afridi said “playing six test matches against England and Australia in England will be a challenge for Pakistan and I am ready for this challenge. It is up to selectors now whether they will select for the test matches or not.”

On question about the captaincy in test matches he said “it is up to PCB to appoint the captain. I am not in the position to speak anything about the captain until PCB take final decision.”

Afridi likely to lead Pakistan in Asia Cup

by Ubaid-ur-Rehman Awan

KARACHI: Pakistan T20 captain Shahid Khan Afridi will meet chairman PCB Ejaz Butt on May 25 in PCB headquarters Qaddafi Stadium Lahore.

Sources in PCB told The Sports Encounter that there is possibility that Afridi will lead Pakistan cricket team in upcoming Asia Cup starting from June 15 in Sri Lanka.

While talking to The awansports.blogspot.com, Afridi said “I have not taken any decision yet about my retirement from test cricket. I am still thinking about my test career and after consultation with my family and friends, I will let the people know about my decision.”

He further stated that “PCB appellate tribunal should complete the hearing of the players’ appeals as soon as possible so that the players should concentrate on the cricket.”

“PCB should start preparing team for next year mega event ICC World Cup 2011 and players should be fresh before the preparations of World Cup.”

Salman Butt likely to be captain for England tour

KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is considering a move to appoint Salman Butt as captain for the two Test series taking place in England against the hosts and Australia with Shahid Afridi likely to lead the Twenty20 and the One-Day International (ODI) squads.

According to sources, the team management, including coach Waqar Younis, as well as the PCB officials all seem to agree on Salman’s appointment viewing Afridi’s reluctance to return to the Test arena. Afridi has not played a Test for almost four years and while the all-rounder has not confirmed his decision to stay away from Test matches, his return looks highly unlikely.

Pakistan’s next appointment is the Asia Cup that starts from June15 in Sri Lanka followed by the tour of England where it will play two Twenty20s and two Tests against Australia as well as four Tests, five ODIs and two Twenty20s against the hosts. While the tour is still over a month away, the PCB is already mulling over the possible candidates for the threemonth long tour.

“Nothing has been confirmed as far as the captaincy is confirmed,” Ijaz told The Express Tribune from London where he is meeting with his English counterpart Giles Clarke. “The squads for the Asia Cup and the tour of England will be named together on May 22 or 24 as the team will depart for London directly from Sri Lanka after the Asia Cup.” The sources added that Salman, who finished as the third-highest scorer in the recently- concluded 2010 World Twenty20, has the backing of the coach as well as the senior players in the team and is on good terms with all team members.

Pakistan may head to the one-day tournament in Sri Lanka and the tour of England hampered by the absence of key players including Mohammad Yousuf, Younus Khan and Shoaib Malik, with all three banned by the PCB. Younus and Malik have filed appealed against their bans, the hearing dates have set as May 22 and 29 respectively. As a result, Malik, if successful, may be able to make his international comeback while Younus may have to wait until the Test series in England.

Pakistan leave for WI with title defence task

LAHORE: The defending champions of World Twenty-Twenty, Pakistan left for West Indies to defend their title in just over 10 months time from Lahore International Airport.

Talking with reporters at the airport, Twenty20 skipper, Shahid Khan Afridi said that he has a mission in hand to defend the title in West Indies and he has a team that has the potential to repeat the heroics of the last year.

Afridi said that apart from the title defence, he has another big task as captain. “With the support of my players and team management, I would try to keep Pakistani players away from all the controversies”, Afridi added.

Pakistani team left the Lahore Airport with two of the players not travelling with the squad. Fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Sami will leave for the Caribbean separately owing to personal problems. Mohammad Asif is planned to leave for London as he is banned to enter UAE for lifetime, from where, he would reach West Indies to join his team, while Mohammad Sami doesn’t have British visa therefore he would first go New York then he would join his team mates in the Caribbean.

Just before flying to the West Indies, Pakistan also survived an injury scare. Kamran Akmal narrowly escaped fears of being dropped Friday when he was able to clear a fitness test.

Afridi said that fielding is the one area that we will give the utmost attention during the World Twenty-Twenty.

“I have a well balanced team in batting and bowling, and we have to further lift the standard of fielding. Fielding is crucial in this fastest version of the game and a lot of hard work was done to raise the standard”, Afridi told reporters at the airport.

While talking about chances of Pakistan in the ICC tournament, the Boom Boom Afridi said that a circle of experts is saying that Pakistani team is somewhat weak in the batting department, but I think we have got good bunch of batters who can play as per the situation. Moreover, our spinners are world class, and with the West Indian pitches favouring spinners more in the recent past, our spinners would give us the real edge over out opponents. “Our batting firepower includes Misbah-ul-Haq (a genuine Twenty Twenty player), Abdul Razzaq (a classy allrounder), young Umar Akmal (hard-hitting fellow), Khalid Latif (devastating opener) and Salman Butt (experienced bullock). We have got great spinners in shape of mysterious Saeed Ajmal, gutsy Mohammad Hafeez and myself. Our pace department is also stronger than the rest as it has fast bowlers like Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Sami and Mohammad Aamer with Abdul Razzaq as a helping hand. So all in all, we have great chance of making it two in a row.

Pakistan would play their first game in the tournament against Bangladesh on May 2 at St Lucia. Australia are the other side in the Group A of the ICC World Twenty-Twenty Championship.

Pak team is tactically, technically set to defend T20 crown: Afridi

KARACHI, April 23 (APP) - Pakistan Captain Shahid Afridi was looking for support and prayers of the nation and backing of media in their endeavor to retain their World T20 title in West Indies. “Me and my team is geared-up to tactically and technically live up to the expectations of the nations to accomplish the task in the West Indies,” he told APP Correspondent Ehsan Qureshi in an interview here Friday, prior to his departure to Lahore on his to St.Lucia on Saturday morning.
“Without the prayers of the nation and supporters across the world, Pakistan team can not achieve anything. Besides playing patriotically for Pakistan we needed support of countrymen and media,” he added. “My appeal to the national media would be healthy in criticism but should keep the interest of Pakistan above all,” he said. “My mission as a captain and with the support of players and team management to to keep the team away from any controversy,” he pointed out.
He made its clear that he was not under any kind of pressure. “I like to lead the team from the front because its my style and I always believe in an aggressive approach which had his stigma throughout his career,” he commented “We are fully equipped to face the challenges in West Indies. He got well balanced team in batting and bowling and we have to further lift the standard of fielding, Afridi, who played key role in Pakistan semifinal and finals triumph in 2009.
“Fielding is crucial area in this fastest version of the game and a lot of hard work was done to raise the standard. We are ready give our best and rest with Almighty,” he stressed.
He dispelled the impression that Pakistan may face trouble in batting department. “Its altogether different in T20 cricket. We got a lot of firepower in our batting,” he said. He said they are initially planning to start the innings with Muhammad Hafeez and Kamran Akmal. We have experienced Misbahul-Haq, Abdul Razzaq, young Umer Akmal, Khalid Latif, Salman Butt.
“As we expect spinning track and for this we got good options in Saeed Ajmal, Muhammad Hafeez and he himself,” he maintained. “We got Muhammad Aamir, Muhammad Sami, Muhammad Asif and Abdul Razaq,” Shahid Afridi indicated.
“T20 is very tough and demanding cricket and we can afford to take any team lightly. We even can not take Bangladesh lightly as they possess a number talented cricketer in their line-up,” he remarked.
In the meantime, a number of Shahid Afridi and Pakistan supporters including former Test opener and Captain Saeed Anwar, former PCB Chairman Lt. General (Retd) Tauqir Zia, Sindh Sports Minister Dr.Muhammad Ali Shah, former Chief Selector Salahauddin, Ex City Nazim Syed Mustufa Kamal and others visited his house on Thursday and wished him and Pakistan team a great luck in the World T20 in Caribbean.

Afridi ask to PCB; requests reconsideration of fine

Karachi: Shahid Afridi has written to the PCB chairman asking him to reconsider the fine imposed on him by a committee for ball-tampering during the fifth ODI against Australia in February this year. Though local reports suggested that the fine will be withdrawn, the board says it has asked Afridi to formally appeal against the charge.

Afridi was fined Rs. 3 million ($35,000) and put on probation for a six-month period after the committee, set up after a disastrous tour of Australia, found him guilty of bringing the game and country into disrepute. Afridi was caught on TV biting the ball in a bid to tamper with it. He was leading Pakistan in the match and was immediately banned for two games, by the ICC.

He was temporarily removed as Pakistan's Twenty20 captain following the incident but was announced recently by the board as the man to lead Pakistan's defense in the World Twenty20, due to begin in the Caribbean on April 30th. Afridi's personal plea to the chairman is based on the grounds that he has already been punished once for the incident, and a fine would be the second punishment for the same offence.

"Afridi has written a letter to us and we will consider it in due course," Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, told Cricinfo. "His punishment has not been withdrawn yet and all these reports are baseless."

The letter does not, however, constitute a formal appeal and Afridi is likely to be told he should follow the process set up by the board to the punished players. Seven players were punished in all by the committee with fines and bans - the Akmal brothers, Shoaib Malik, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan and Afridi - though the specific nature of charges was never released. The board has set up a three-member appeals panel consisting of retired judges from the Supreme and High Courts and given the players 30 days to file appeals.

As of today, no player has filed an official appeal. Afridi has sent a letter to the chairman, as has Younis Khan who has been banned indefinitely from playing from Pakistan. The board has sent Younis a reply asking him to initiate a formal appeal to the panel. Rana, banned for a year from playing for Pakistan for unspecified offences, has today also sent in a legal notice through his lawyer to the PCB in which some legal objections have been raised about his punishment, but this is not a formal appeal.

Malik, also banned for a year, said he intends to appeal but he's currently playing in a Twenty20 tournament in Sharjah - he could lodge an appeal upon his return - and is possibly distracted by the announcement of his wedding to Indian tennis star Sania Mirza.

Yousuf, meanwhile, has announced his retirement from international cricket as a result of his indefinite ban though he also said recently he might consider appealing should he be advised to do so.
thanks by cricinfo

Afridi wants Sami, Shahzaib in T20 squad

Ubaid-ur-Rehman Awan

KARACHI: Pakistan’s Twenty20 captain Shahid Afridi said Thursday that if he was asked for the team selection, he would have suggested fast bowler Mohammad Sami and opening batsman Shahzaib Hasan

While talking exclusively to The Sports Encounter correspondent here, Shahid Khan Afridi claimed that he has strong enough team to defend the ICC World T20 title and said that he has four to five match winners who can change the course of the game single-handedly.

When asked about potential dangerous teams in the World Cup, Afridi said, “I can’t cite any particular team as good and dangerous side because all participating teams are good sides but when you ask about my team, I think a heavy responsibility mounts over the senior players including me, Misbah ul Haq, Abdul Razzaq and Mohammad Asif and we are the main players, who should play critical role because our most players are new and are playing their first World Cup”.

Afridi played down Imran Nazir’s inclusion in the squad and said he failed to impress during the domestic Twenty20 Cup in Karachi. “I had closely observed his performance even till the last match of the domestic T20 tournament against Faisalabad Wolves but he again failed to find form and runs,” Afridi said.

It is important to mention here that Imran Nazir could only manage 54 runs in the recently concluded domestic T20 tournament with an average of 13.50 runs per innings.

“I wished Mohammad Sami and Shahzaib Hasan, who performed outstandingly in the RBS T20 should have been included in the squad however the selectors automatically picked up my third likely player (Mohammad) Hafeez,” Afridi added.

Earlier, Shahid Khan Afridi has lodged an appeal against the heavy fine imposed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for the ball-tampering charge.

He had handed the letter to the Chief Operating Officer (COO) Wasim Bari on the eve of the Pakistan Day T20 Cup in Lahore.

“I have already handed the letter to the Wasim Bari (PCB COO), in which I have written that why I was penalised twice in one charge and appealed to waive my fine,” Afridi told.

The PCB had implemented the recommendations of an inquiry committee formed to evaluate Pakistan’s dismal performance against Australia in December and January. And for the shocking act (ball-tampering), which had brought the game and country into disrepute, Afridi was fined Rs3 million along with a warning issued by the Chairman PCB Ejaz Butt.

He is also on a six-month probation, during which his conduct will be strictly monitored. But after the detailed discussion with the concern, the PCB appointed Afridi as captain for the ICC World Twenty20, scheduled to take place in the West Indies next month.