Shahid Afridi’s last chance to perform – Iqbal Qasim

Iqbal Qasim, the chief selector of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), has made it clear that the upcoming limited-overs series against South Africa is going to be the last chance for Shahid Afridi to prove his worth.

The former Pakistan captain, who was dropped from the One Day International (ODI) series against India recently, has been recalled to the squad for the series against South Africa, which starts next month.

Afridi’s selection in the ODI squad is a little surprising, considering the fact that he has not played a lot of domestic cricket recently and also looked off-colour against Afghanistan, representing Pakistan ‘A’.

While announcing the ODI and T20 squads, the chief selector expressed that the series against the Proteas is going to be Afridi’s “last chance and he has to perform.”

In 2012, Afridi failed to live up to the expectations of the sporting fans in Pakistan, picking up merely 15 wickets in 16 ODIs at an expensive average of 43.13 runs per scalp. With the bat in hand, the hard-hitter just accumulated 182 runs at an average of 15.16 runs per innings. The all-rounder also failed to make an impression in the ICC World T20 2012 in Sri Lanka.

Sohail Tanvir has been dropped from the T20 squad, being replaced by Wahab Riaz, who has been in sublime form in domestic cricket. Azhar Ali, who has been a part of part of Pakistan’s ODI squad in 2012, has been excluded, following his lackluster performances in the Test series against South Africa.

Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal and Umar Akmal have been included in both the squads; whereas, some talented cricketers like Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Amin, Zulfiqar Babar and Asad Ali have found a place only in the T20 squad.

ODI squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (Capt), Mohammad Hafeez, Nasir Jamshed, Asad Shafiq, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, Wahab Riaz, Umar Gul, Imran Farhat, Abdur Rehman.

Twenty20 squad: Mohammad Hafeez (Capt), Nasir Jamshed, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Irfan, Wahab Riaz, Umar Gul, Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Amin, Zulfiqar Babar, Asad Ali, Junaid Khan.

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Posted by Yasir Hashmi on Feb 21 2013. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.