The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday named flamboyant all-rounder Shahid Afridi as its new national Twenty20 captain until the 2016 World T20 while Misbah ul Haq was retained as the Test and ODI skipper until the 2015 ODI World Cup.
In his first message after being given the responsibility by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) till the 2016 World T20, Afridi, who has played 381 ODIs and 74 T20 internationals, told reporters here that he was up for the challenge.
“But the main message I want to convey to the players is that they need to shed their fear of defeat and failure and play their natural game. Limited overs cricket is about aggression and our players need to take that approach,” he said. “T20 cricket is for courageous players and I am confident we have talent in the team which just needs to be encouraged and spurred on,” he added.
Afridi, 34, who captained Pakistan in ODIs and T20 matches in 2010 and 2011 before being removed by the board said he was delighted to get back the responsibility. Afridi said he had however now moved on and started a new innings.
“I don’t want to go into details or rake up the past. But what happened than everyone knows and everybody knows what my performance as captain and player was,” he added.
Afridi’s sacking came after he clashed with Waqar Younis, who was serving his first term as head coach.
They clashed twice on a tour to the West Indies on selection issues and this led to the manager, Intikhab Alam, submitting a damning report about Afridi and his disciplinary issues to the board, which promptly sacked him and handed over the ODI and T20 captaincy to Misbah.
Afridi said he had now gotten over his problems with Waqar who is back as head coach. “I was happy to see Waqar bhai a changed person on the recent tour to Sri Lanka. The management was very supportive and I think we can now work well together for Pakistan cricket,” he added.
The all-rounder also promised to build a fighting unit for the World T20 in 2016. “I know how important it is for me to perform as well and I will be focusing a lot on my bowling and batting as well,” he stated.
Commenting on these developments PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan said the decisions were in line with his policy of taking decisions democratically.
“I consulted Cricket Committee and my Board members before announcing these decisions. I wish both Afridi and Misbah very good luck in their upcoming assignments,” PCB chief said.
The PCB has however deferred announcing the squad for the coming series against Australia in the UAE. Pakistan will start their tour against Australia next month with a T20 scheduled on 5th October 2014 at Dubai Cricket Stadium.
Afridi was tipped to be given the national T20 captaincy after Muhammad Hafeez stepped down from the job after the World T20 in Bangladesh this year where Pakistan failed to qualify for the semi-finals for the first time since the tournament’s inception in 2007.
Sources revealed that the name of young batsman Sohaib Maqsood was also discussed, but the votes were in favour of Afridi because of his vast experience of ODI and T20 cricket and also because of his prior experience leading the side.
