Rawalpindi Express Shoaib Akhtar praises Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi
Pakistani pace bowler ‘Rawalpindi Express’ http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 at the ICC World Cup 2011.
The flamboyant Afridi has certainly silenced critics who wanted to see him sacked right before the ICC World Cup 2011, which is being hosted by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747.
Against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kenya-c752, he led the team from the front, picking up five wickets for 16 runs – the best figures ever by a Pakistani bowler in a World Cup. However, his performance against co-hosts Sri Lanka was even more crucial where he took four wickets in Pakistan’s
11-run victory. The victory served as a morale booster for the Men in Green who were written-off by many for this year’s tournament.
Talking to the media at the P Sara Stadium, the speedster, Akhtar, praised his captain, saying that Afridi was a match winner and was leading the team with the right example by giving commendable performances in the field.
Stressing that the skipper had everyone’s support in the team he said, “Everyone is supporting him as captain, even when he lost the semi-final in the World Twenty20.” He was referring to Pakistan’s shocking defeat at the hands of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 last year in
Saint Lucia where Pakistan lost the match from a winning position.
“He [Afridi] a bit hyper but that's okay. He took some time to blend the team which is natural and is now doing a great job as captain. We are complimenting each other, he takes advice from all of us. We are looking at each other in difficult situations,”
he said.
35-year-old Akhtar pointed out that Afridi’s strength as a leader was that he got the best out of his players and made sure that every member of his squad, especially the seniors, stayed fully involved.
30-year-old Afridi has succeeded to impress everyone with his performance both as a senior player and as a captain. This is the main reason for the support that he keeps receiving from everyone in the Pakistani camp.
The express pacer said he has always asked the skipper to focus on his bowling instead of batting because in the eyes of the Rawalpindi Express, Afridi was a better bowler than a batsman. Akhtar insisted that Afridi had won more matches for Pakistan by his
spin bowling than batting.
Afridi, on Saturday became the only all-rounder from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 to have scored 6,000 runs and taken 300 wickets in One Day Internationals. Afridi was happy that he has been performing well for his team and doing a good job captaining a young Pakistani squad.
Earlier, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had expressed its reservations in retaining Afridi as captain for the World Cup. However, with his current successes at leadership, all concerns have been put to rest.
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