Afridi top candidate for Pakistan team’s limited-overs captaincy: Sallu - Cricket News Update
The http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482, saying the 32-year-old has what it takes to lead the team, once again, in the shorter format of the game.
“It was only last year when he [Afridi] did wonders in the 2011 World Cup to lead the team to the semi-finals in times when our players were feeling down and out following the spot-fixing controversy in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 and had lost their confidence,” the former
Test cricketer recalled, adding that Afridi had managed to unite the team because he commanded respect.
Afridi first took over the T20 captaincy in 2009, when http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Yousuf-c77465 was sacked, and led the team in the 2010 Asia Cup, during which he remained the
top run-scorer in the tournament, with 384 runs from 3 matches to his credit.
He was also appointed Test captain later in the year, during May, but gave up the post, citing lack of temperament for Test matches as the reason. He went on to lead the team through the 2011 World Cup, and the Men In Green made it to the semi-finals, after
which they were eliminated from the competition by arch-rivals http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750. In May 2011, however, Afridi resigned from the post of skipper, after a spat with the Pakistan Cricket Board, bringing his stint at captaincy to an end.
The all-rounder was recently targeted with accusations about his fitness, after he managed to claim just 3 scalps in 4 ODIs against England in the UAE earlier this year, and followed that up with just two wickets in the Asia Cup prior to the tournament final.
Before the slump, Afridi had managed to claim 23 wickets in 9 games, played against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Afghanistan-c745.
The cricketer hit back at critics, claiming that he was merely going through a lean patch, from which he expected to emerge soon. Shortly afterwards, Afridi silenced all naysayers and offered a demonstration of his fitness during the Asia Cup final against
Bangladesh, contributing a crucial 32 to his team’s total, in addition to conceding just 28 runs in the 10 overs he bowled.
With http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972 widely considered an unsuitable captain for the short format of the game, other options are under consideration, and Sallu feels there is no need to look beyond Afridi.
“Afridi is still quite keen about leading Pakistan in ODIs and Twenty20 games … He considers leading the country a big honour and I am sure if he is properly approached for the job, he will take it up and do Pakistan proud yet again.”
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