Shahid Afridi might be reconsidered for India ODIs, says Misbah-ul-Haq

Pakistan ODI skipper Misbah-ul-Haq has said that Shahid Afridi, who was dropped initially, might be reconsidered for the 50-over series against India.

As a result of his terrible show with both bat and ball recently, Afridi lost his place in the three-match ODI series against India.

He was selected for a couple of T20s though. The former skipper scored only 182 runs in his last 16 one-dayers.

The veteran all-rounder, however, made the team management realised that he could be useful even in the ODIs, by scoring two half-centuries in the practice matches.

By hitting a quick innings of 90 off 64 balls in the last game, he caught the eye of his skipper. Misbah said in Lahore at Pakistan’s training camp for the tour:

"If his form remains like this and we needed him, we will definitely consider him. The form of senior players, who are experienced enough, is very important."

While some experts admired the decision, Wasim Akram, the former skipper, criticised Afridi’s exclusion from the ODIs, saying that he deserves a place as a bowler.

"Indian players are afraid of Afridi and I fail to understand why he was dropped," Daily Jang quoted Akram as saying. "If the selectors were thinking that Afridi was out of form then they should have also dropped him from the Twenty20 team."

Inzamam-ul-Haq has recently joined the side as batting consultant, and Misbah is very happy with the way the former skipper is coaching the players. He said of Inzamam:

"He is teaching us what types of hurdles we are going to face and how to get over them," Misbah said. "No doubt in India vs. Pakistan cricket you have to play aggressive cricket and we will try to apply it over there."

Vowing to take India challenge as just a regular event, the skipper shared, “There is always pressure in India-Pakistan matches and it will stay like this whether we are playing against each other regularly or not."

"Everyone follows it and has lots of expectations, but the key for us will be to play normal cricket like we do play against other teams."

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Posted by Rana Nasir Ghafoor on Dec 20 2012. Filed under Pakistan, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry