Imran Khan Perplexed over Afridi’s Captaincy
Imran Khan, the legendary Pakistani cricketer has admitted that he had mixed feelings over Shahid Afridi’s leadership skills for taking the team into world cup. According to him, the team Pakistan was in a crisis, and he was unsure
whether Afridi could steer it out of trouble or not.
While sharing his views at the promotional event for Cricket World Cup 2011, going to be held in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the former captain of Pakistan cricket team said that among all the presently available players,
Afridi was the best option to be handed over with the responsibility of restoring the pride for Pakistan.
The team Pakistan has been into hot waters right after its disappointing tour of Australia; the way it had earned embarrassing defeats, it prompted investigations into allegations of match-fixing which culminated in barring several
players while others were heavily fined by the PCB.
Things had become worst as the team left for the tour to England during the second half of the year, amid the controversial allegations by News of the World, the ICC had suspended Captain Pakistan cricket team Salman Butt, the
pacers Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Aamir, while final verdict in their case is yet to come.
Speaking in context of so many problems the team had been facing, Khan said that it required an extraordinary effort to build a clean image of the most volatile cricketing side. He said, “I am not sure whether Afridi is the right
person. Having said that, I would like to add that if there is someone who can do it, it is Afridi.”
Khan further stated, “He is one player who can pull off something out of the ordinary. If he can hit a purple patch, it does give Pakistan a chance. But then Pakistan are one of the most unpredictable side in world cricket.”
Despite the corruption charges, which have culminated in temporarily ending his career, Khan believed that the young Aamir had got stunning bowling potential. He claimed that Aamir had the skills similar to what were acquired by
former captain Wasim Akram.
In fact he went on ahead to say that to him; Aamir was more talented than Wasim Akram was, at this age. He was of the view that amid seeing Wasim playing in the age of 18, he was in a better place to compare his skills with Aamir,
who was definitely more talented than Wasim.
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