Pakistani vice-captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482
Pakistan Cricket team vice-captain Misbah-ul-Haq wants other members of the team to start performing well to take pressure off the shoulders of skipper Shahid Afridi, who has been the best performer for Pakistan so far in the ongoing ICC World Cup 2011.
Addressing a press conference, Misbah said, “It’s really very good for a team that its captain is doing well, but other players are also required to play well, take responsibility and ease pressure off the captain.”
Misbah stressed that the openers would have to find form soon and score big runs for the team. He added that the bowlers needed to tidy up as well, which will decrease the pressure on Afridi who literally won Pakistan’s clash with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Canada-c748 singlehandedly by
bowling magnificently in the dying stages of the match.
The middle-order batsman, who was in the running for the team’s World Cup captaincy, reiterated that there was no disharmony within the team and he was happy with his current place in the Pakistani squad. He reiterated that Afridi was the binding force in
the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 contingent. The skipper has taken 14 wickets in the three matches that Pakistan have played in the World Cup so far, with five-wicket hauls in two of the three matches, making him one of the top bowlers in the tournament this year.
While Afridi is not pounding the ball out of the park, he is certainly doing damage with the ball in his hand. Nevertheless, depending on Afridi to get Pakistan out of the woods every time might prove dangerous, especially in the knockout stages of the ongoing
World Cup for which it is imperative that all the players perform well and contribute to Pakistan’s victories.
Misbah is certainly not hesitating from performing his due. The batsman is the backbone of Pakistan’s batting line-up along with veteran Younus Khan. With the openers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ahmed-Shehzad-c956 failing in the three outings, it was up to Misbah and
Younus to score runs for the team and put a fighting total on the board. And did they deliver!
Keeping the recent performance of the mild mannered batsman in mind, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754’s pacer Tim Southee has said he would target Misbah to penetrate and destroy Pakistan’s defences. However, Misbah seems unimpressed and least bothered by the young Kiwi’s rhetoric.
Speaking on the threat posed by the Kiwis, Misbah said, “They can’t target just me, because before me there are three or four batsmen who can get hundreds. They can’t wait for me only.”
Misbah pointed out that the Pakistani openers have had good runs against the Kiwis in the recently concluded series between the two nations just before the World Cup. Pakistan dominated the entire tour and beat New Zealand in both Test and ODIs comfortably.
Misbah believes that the openers will perform well once again against an opposition they are familiar with. Pakistan and New Zealand face each other today at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 in the 24th match of the ICC World Cup 2011.
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