Afridi to Lead Pakistan in T20

KARACHI — Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday ended the suspense over the national team’s captaincy for the Twenty20 World Cup to be played in West Indies by naming all-rounder Shahid Afridi to lead green shirts to defend the title.

By Rehan Siddiqui

Published: Thu 25 Mar 2010, 12:41 AM

Last updated: Mon 6 Apr 2015, 2:43 AM

The PCB announced 15-member squad some days ago, but delayed the appointment of the skipper after it slapped bans on several players as well as fines including Afridi for his “bite the ball” incident against Australia earlier this year.

Local media had reported that all-rounder Abdul Razzaq and senior batsman Misbahul Haq were also in the running for the captaincy.

“I am delighted and will try my level best to live up to the expectations of the PCB and the nation. It is a great honour to lead the national team,” Afridi told Khaleej Times soon after his appointment as captain.

Despite PCB’s fine of Rs3 million, Afridi was firm favourite to land the job. Majority of the country’s legends as well as the cricket fans stood by him and considered him the ideal choice to lead the national team claiming that he had been punished for his actions and that should be enough.

“Past is past and I have learnt my lesson and whatever had happened before is not going to distract me from performing to best of my ability. To me playing for Pakistan is paramount,” he said.

One factor that went into Afridi’s favour that almost all the players named in the 15-member squad had expressed confidence in the dynamic all-rounder who is without doubt the most popular cricketer of the country.

A PCB spokesman confirmed that the appointment to lead Pakistan team is only for West Indies trip and captains for Test and one-dayers will be appointed later.

However, it is likely that Afridi will be named captain for one-dayers too. A decent Pakistan performance in the Caribbean will certainly help Afridi’s cause.

There were lots of speculations regarding the naming of the team captain for game’s shortest version World Cup due to lots of criticism of Pakistan’s performance and alleged involvement in match-fixing and acts of indiscipline in recent times.

Afridi was appointed Twenty20 captain after Younus Khan decided not to play in the shorter version of cricket having led Pakistan to memorable victory in the second edition of the competition.

After his suspension by cricket’s governing body for two matches, former skipper, Shoaib Malik was appointed as captain for one-off Twenty20 match against Australia and two match series against England in UAE.