Cricket Update: Pakistan Skipper Shahid Afridi says welcome to Kamran Akmal for the World Cup 30-men squad
Pakistan’s limited-overs captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 has welcomed wicketkeeper-batsman Kamaran Akmal for becoming the part of Pakistan’s preliminary 30-men squad for the World Cup 2011.
“Kamran is one of our most experienced players. He is a key team member especially for One-day Internationals which is why I’m happy that he is back,” Afridi told to the media on Wednesday.
Akmal a former Pakistan vice-captain has been continuously ignored for national duty for consecutive series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 and New Zealand. Apparently, the player has not been found guilty of formal charges but it was believed that the Lahore-based
player was involved in match fixing.
After taking part in last year’s tour of England, Akmal was sidelined from his national duty because http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 Cricket Board had not given him clearance.
He was not allowed to participate in the Twenty20 and Test squad for the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 tour despite recovering from an appendix operation. Since now he has been playing domestic matches and scored his highest first-class score of 268.
However, he has been successful in becoming the part of World Cup preliminary squad, as he has conducted several meetings at the PCB headquarters in Lahore, for which the Board’s integrity committee finally decided to give him clearance to play for Pakistan.
“The World Cup is our most important target and obviously we will need all our key players for it,”
said Afridi.
On his comeback in Pakistani cricket, Akmal said that he was delighted to be back among Pakistan’s World Cup probables. He denied all the allegations on him.
“I have always played cricket the right way and when the PCB asked me to appear before the committee I complied and I am happy that they have included me in the preliminary squad,” Akmal said.
The 28-years old Akmal had been under suspicion of match-fixing during Pakistan’s surprising defeat in the Sydney Test against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 in January last year. He expressed hope that although, Pakistan will be missing some of its key players in World Cup
2011, but still the team will manage to perform well in the mega event.
“We have to play with the available players and I am sure that if we play to our potential we can win the World Cup.”
The 10th World Cup will be hosted jointly by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 from February 19 to April 2, and total of 14 teams will compete in it.
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