Pakistan team is hungry for success – Shahid Afridi
Triumphant Pakistani captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 said on Tuesday that the recent off-the-field events have made the national cricket team very tough and is now hungry for success.
Afridi said that the spot-fixing scandal cannot be ignored, but with just 10 days to the World Cup, the team had its focus on the game only. “The team has become mentally tougher and is hungry for success," said the captain on his return
after a successful tour of New Zealand.
The team won the two-match Test series 1-0 against New Zealand. Pakistan also won a six-match one-day series against New Zealand 3-2 with a game washed out. This was http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755’s first ODI series triumph since 2008 and their first series win
against New Zealand in the country in 17 years.
The 30-year-old credited the victory to team efforts and said every player had played his part in the series win. He said the team’s coordination and successes would help them in the upcoming World Cup. He said the fact that nearly every
player had contributed to the series win over New Zealand is a great confidence booster. “You can never expect to win if you are dependent on one or two players. Every player has to contribute in some way in a match,” he added.
Afridi said the team had been doing well in all late tours, but most of the performances had been scattered with no series win. He said the series wins in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 would help the team seal other series too. Afridi also said New Zealand
was a tough side to beat in their own home.
The captain expressed satisfaction with the 15-man squad that the Pakistan Cricket Board had selected for the World Cup. He said he was confident he would lift the trophy this year. He also acknowledged that with Pakistan’s series wins over
New Zealand, the team had risen to become one of the favourites to win the mega event. "We just need to keep our basics right and everyone pitching in throughout the competition. And with the nation praying for us we are now among the favourites this World
Cup," said the Pakistan captain.
The 10th edition of the ICC World Cup will be hosted by three test playing nations of the Subcontinent. These countries are http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 and Bangladesh. Afridi hopes that the tracks of the subcontinent will work in his team’s favour.
The national team is due to fly to Bangladesh February 10, Thursday. They will play two warm-up matches ahead of the World Cup that is scheduled to start on February 19.
Before leaving for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747, the Pakistan cricket team will attend a reception by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
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