Afridi urges batsmen to be more aggressive in Asia Cup - Cricket News Update
Flamboyant Pakistani all-rounder, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 has urged the Pakistani batsmen to take on responsibility and play aggressive cricket in the upcoming quadrangular Asia Cup tournament, starting in Bangladesh on March 11, 2012.
Pakistan recently succumbed to a 4-0 ODI series whitewash and a 2-1 T20 series loss at the hands of England. Endorsing his coach and captain, Afridi blamed poor batting for the team’s humiliation in the limited overs series.
"I think we need to be more aggressive in the Asia Cup and our batsmen have to play hard at the bowlers," said the former Pakistan captain on his return home from Bangladesh, where he played for the Dhaka Gladiators in their last two games of the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747
Premier League.
"We must realise that our bowlers can't win us matches all the time. It is time for the batsmen to also score runs heavily. We lost to England as I thought we were a bit defensive," he added further.
Following Pakistan’s poor performance in the limited overs series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013, the captaincy has once again become a hot topic in the media, as well the cricketing circles. Afridi, however, remained non-committal when asked if he was willing to take
the charge of the side from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972.
Pakistan will open their Asia Cup campaign against Bangladesh on March 11, 2011 at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur. The regional tournament also features http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 and India, the latter being the defending champions.
This will be the first time since last year’s mouth-watering World Cup semi-final that both India and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 will get a chance to play against each other in an international match.
Afridi, who was the captain of the Pakistan team that was knocked out of the esteemed tournament by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 last year, said that the world cup semis defeat will not be on his team’s mind when they will play the arch-rivals in the much awaited Asia Cup match
on March 18.
"I don't think we should look at the match against India as a revenge one,” said Afridi. “We need to treat every match with same importance and significance," he added further.
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