KARACHI: Pakistan’s one-day captain, Shahid Afridi has described the tour to England that ended on Wednesday as one of the most difficult of his cricket career.
“It was one of the most difficult tours of my 14-year career. It was difficult to even venture out of the hotel, there were people hooting at us and there was lot of pressure on the players,” Afridi told a local television channel.
Pakistan lost the test, Twenty20 and one-day series to England and the team was rocked by allegations of fixing parts of matches against some of its players.
Test captain, Salman Butt and pace bowlers, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz were all questioned by Scotland yard over the allegations with the first three also suspended by the International Cricket Council after the News of the World newspaper broke a story on Aug. 28 that the players had deliberately bowled no balls in the fourth test against England at Lords.
Afridi who had stepped down as test captain after Pakistan lost the first test to Australia in July returned to take charge of the team for the limited over matches.
“It was a difficult tour because of the allegations. Players were not comfortable even venturing out of the hotel, they were so many negative reports about the team, there was lot of stress on us,” he said.
The all-rounder said that he gave lot of credit to his players for still leveling the one-day series at 2-2 despite the pressures before eventually losing it 3-2 with defeat on Wednesday in Southampton.
“The players were down and it was not easy lifting them up. It was very difficult but they responded well.”
Afridi also called for the introduction of the umpires decision referral system in ODI cricket.
“They should have the referral system in one-dayers because one mistake by the umpire can change the course of the game,” he said.
Afridi also did not rule out the possibility of coming out of retirement to return to the test team again for the forthcoming series against South Africa in the UAE.
“I will speak to the chairman of the board but there is no doubt Pakistan cricket is going through a difficult phase and we seniors have to play our role in getting the team out of this crisis,” he said. —Reuters
Re: England tour one of the toughest of my career: Afridi
For sure he Afridi showed great courage in trying to lead the team under such extreme hostile circumstances.
And he deserves full kudos for that.
However he does lack some captaincy skills when he wasted the middle overs and did not completely clamp down on England when they were stuggling with a 3 an over RR.
But at the end...even under Younis we used to do that.
Pakistan batting is not strong after the departures of Sheet anchors like Inzi, Miandad.
Re: England tour one of the toughest of my career: Afridi
Afridi also did not rule out the possibility of coming out of retirement to return to the test team again for the forthcoming series against South Africa in the UAE.
“I will speak to the chairman of the board but there is no doubt Pakistan cricket is going through a difficult phase and we seniors have to play our role in getting the team out of this crisis,” he said. —Reuters
The only part you need to read.
Afridi, who of course always puts the national interests first, is hinting that he might "unretire" from Tests once again.
Such unselfish player. He should be awarded Nishan-e-Pakistan or something for willing to play test matches for the country.
Re: England tour one of the toughest of my career: Afridi
Wasnt he the one who walked out of tour on first signs that it was going to be a tough tour? Later on he claimed that he knew about fixing issues in the team too before he walked out. What kind of idiot is he? I can not wait for Pak cricket to be free of afridi ( among others)
Re: England tour one of the toughest of my career: Afridi
afridi is certainly an idiot to even think of captaining in Test - he has no clue of test cricket, namely the patience required to play the long version.....he loses focus in less than 50 overs..and has severe ADD.....which limits him to think for 20 overs....
Re: England tour one of the toughest of my career: Afridi
[quote="“Antumul_alona, post:13, topic:229508"”]
afridi is certainly an idiot to even think of captaining in Test - he has no clue of test cricket, namely the patience required to play the long version…he loses focus in less than 50 overs..and has severe ADD…which limits him to think for 20 overs…
[/quote]
Nikema, I don’t think that was true. I remember that story on ARY right after NOTW broke the news. I think ARY came up with it after taking Afridi’s comment out of context. Otherwise it was a clear violation of ICC code of conduct not to inform ICC or ASCU about such wrongdoings by fellow team mmebers. Can you imagine the English gutter press staying quiet and doing nothing if he actually did say that?
Re: England tour one of the toughest of my career: Afridi
^^ acha jee....murgee kee do tangain hotee hain chahay jesay bhee gin lain...bottom line he can't and shouldn't return to Tests due to his inability, whether self realized by him or told to him by others....
Re: England tour one of the toughest of my career: Afridi
^^ acha jee....murgee kee do tangain hotee hain chahay jesay bhee gin lain...bottom line he can't and shouldn't return to Tests due to his inability, whether self realized by him or told to him by others....
bhaijan it seemed to me that you were implying in your earlier post that Afridi shouldn't play test cricket due to lack of test cricket skills or abilities. My point was; discussing his playing skills and ability for test cricket is not relevant anymore when the guy just couldn't make up his mind if he wants to play it or not. After deserting the team in the middle of the tour, he just doesn't deserve to be in test cricket. It doesn't matter if he has skills or not!
Re: England tour one of the toughest of my career: Afridi
Some guys I would like to point out in Eng ODI's that did a good job and some not so good, please read and comment guys. what do you think of my anylysis.
Well played
Afrdi (actually seems like a captain, boys listen to him and obey his commands)
Razzler (always have been a solid cricketer, should have bowled the last over in last match, i think skipper missed the trick there)
Gul (great bowling, he is one of the best bowlers in ODI and T20 format)
Akhtar (bowled his heart out, even though his numbers do not reflect that but at 35yrs of age still generating the pace great comeback man way to go keep it up we will need u in the WC)
Asad Shafiq / Mohammad Hafeez / Kamran Akmal // Fwad Alam (Asad Shafiq and Hafeez did a pretty good job getting the runs, kamran Akmal did a decent job after terrible test series maybe we should just use im in ODI's and T20, and Fwad Alam needs to be used in test matches and ODI far better player in those versions not in T20 lacks hitting power. )
Need to perform better
Shahzaib Hasan (guy is a waste of roster spot, get rid of him)
Umar akmal (need to improve playing in the middle order seems like he wants to hit the ball out of park everytime, common dude u r not Inzi)
Mohammad Yousuf (please improve you did not have a good series did not get enough runs when the team needed, Swann had your number)
Seed Ajmal (seems like evertime Afridi tries to count on him he fails again blew the last match after giving up more then 17 runs in last over)
Re: England tour one of the toughest of my career: Afridi
^Oh Cmon
Umar Akmal played better than Asad Shafiq and Fawad Alam. He is the only one who played confidently against Swann.
I ahve been very much against Akmal brothers but after this series i feel they are the best available for the time being.
Re: England tour one of the toughest of my career: Afridi
Blind haters? I mean after so many retire and unretire you still think people are blind haters?
Swan was just one man in the team, Umar has shown impatience whether he was able to face Swan or not, he definitely needs a kick in behind. After how Faisal Iqbal handled Shane Warne people wanted him to have a permanent seat in the team but we all know how good he was. Even Yousuf couldn’t handle Swan so we should not make him (Swann) the criteria.
Re: England tour one of the toughest of my career: Afridi
U Guys r all blind haters of Afridi
Please elaborate because I was one of the strong supporters of Afridi when he was made the captain for the English tour, so much so that I would have supported him to be the test captain even after the English tour if he had decided not to leave it in the middle of the English tour.
But is there any point in supporting him as a test player let alone a captain after what he said at the time of his retirement
"With my temperament I can't play Test cricket,". "It is better a youngster comes in my place, probably a genuine batsman or even a genuine bowler. "I wasn't interested in playing Test cricket but the board asked me to go and take a look as they didn't have a choice. So I took up the responsibility. They asked me to take a chance and may be I would enjoy it. But I wasn't really enjoying Test cricket but I tried.
Re: England tour one of the toughest of my career: Afridi
Please elaborate because I was one of the strong supporters of Afridi when he was made the captain for the English tour, so much so that I would have supported him to be the test captain even after the English tour if he had decided not to leave it in the middle of the English tour.
But is there any point in supporting him as a test player let alone a captain after what he said at the time of his retirement
"With my temperament I can't play Test cricket,". "It is better a youngster comes in my place, probably a genuine batsman or even a genuine bowler. "I wasn't interested in playing Test cricket but the board asked me to go and take a look as they didn't have a choice. So I took up the responsibility. They asked me to take a chance and may be I would enjoy it. But I wasn't really enjoying Test cricket but I tried.
Dude he aint coming back to Test Cricket
Im sure he aint that much stupid
As far as the series in England is concerned
He kept the keep united and kept fighting till the end in times when all the team was down
Re: England tour one of the toughest of my career: Afridi
Yar Waleed tu bhee Ijaz Butt say koi kum nahin hay. Aisee flip flopping karta hay kay Baba Butt bhee khush ho jata ho ga.
Who is questioning his ODI captaincy? I am saying how can he even think of going back to test cricket. and I am saying it because of what he just said today.
Pakistan’s next international assignment is a home series against South Africa in the UAE in October-November. Afridi, who ended a four-year hiatus from Tests this year when he led Pakistan in the very first Test of the summer against Australia only to retire again from the format immediately after losing it, did not rule out another comeback for the Test leg of that tour. **“I will think about it and if the team needs it, I may consider playing the Test series against South Africa,” he said. **
I mean after so many retire and unretire you still think people are blind haters? 