T20 skipper Afridi demands fearless approach from Pakistan players

Soon after being re-appointed as Pakistan Twenty20 captain, flamboyant allrounder Shahid Afridi today urged his players to shed of any “fear” of losing and play their “natural” game.

In his first message after being given the responsibility by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) till the 2016 World T20, Afridi, who has played 381 ODIs and 74 T20 internationals, told reporters that he was up for the challenge.

“But the main message I want to convey to the players is that they need to shed their fear of defeat and failure and play their natural game. Limited overs cricket is about aggression and our players need to take that approach,” he said.

“T20 cricket is for courageous players and I am confident we have talent in the team which just needs to be encouraged and spurred on,” he said.

Afridi, 34, who captained Pakistan in ODIs and T20 matches in 2010 and 2011 before being removed by the board said he was delighted to get back the responsibility.

“I don’t want to go into details or rake up the past. But what happened than everyone knows and everybody knows what my performance as captain and player was,” he added.

Afridi said he had however now moved on and started a new innings.

Afridi’s sacking came after he had a fallout with Waqar Younis who was serving his first term as head coach.

They clashed twice on a tour to the West Indies on selection issues and this led to manager Intikhab Alam submitting a damning report about Afridi and his disciplinary issues to the board which promptly sacked him and handed over the ODI and T20 captaincy as well to Misbah who was already leading the Test side.

Afridi said he had now gotten over his problems with Waqar who is back as head coach.

“I was happy to see Waqar bhai a changed person on the recent tour to Sri Lanka. The management was very supportive and I think we can now work well together for Pakistan cricket,” he added.

The allrounder also promised to build a fighting unit for the World T20 in 2016.

“I know how important it is for me to perform as well and I will be focusing a lot on my bowling and batting as well,” he stated.

PTI