http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 promises to win World Cup for Pakistan - ICC World Cup 2011
Flamboyant Pakistan skipper Shahid Khan Afridi vowed Tuesday to lift the World Cup trophy this time for millions of cricket fans back home who were deprived of the excitement of hosting the mega event when their country became a no-go zone for the players.
“Not playing in our country is on our minds,” said Afridi ahead of his side’s World Cup opener against tournament outsiders, Kenya on Wednesday. “We feel for our nation, our people who are missing the World Cup. I think this is the main thing for us, so definitely we will try our level best to win,” he added further.
No International cricket game has been played in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/March-c74391 2009, which left eight people dead and seven injured, including visiting players and their assistant coach as well.
Initially Pakistan was to jointly host the ICC World Cup 2011 with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 but the International Cricket Council was forced to move the matches from the country, after international players refused to visit Pakistan due to security concerns.
Future of cricket in Pakistan has also been dented by various disciplinary issues including the spot-fixing scandal which led to lengthy bans being imposed on three Pakistan players including former Test captain Salman Butt and pace bowlers, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir.
Afridi was hopeful that if the side managed to perform well in the ongoing tournament - which started in Dhaka last Saturday - International cricket would return to the country sooner or later.
The 30-year-old agreed that it was quite difficult to keep the team, coming into the mega event at the back of controversies, in the right frame of mind.
“It was difficult to keep the team settled in the beginning when we had all those issues,” said the right-handed batsman.
He, however, said that now the team is quite settled and has a combination of players that can perform really well in the tournament.
Afridi said his side would not be relaxed while playing http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kenya-c752 tomorrow.
“I love Kenya and Kenyans,” said the right-arm leg-spinner. “I don't think we will be relaxed when we face them and I would like to be playing at our full strength.”
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