Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Chance for Afridi

Ostentatious all-rounder Shahid Afridi, who made Pakistan to the Twenty20 World Cup title in yesterday's final spoken motivation to lead the team at least once before calling it quit, may soon get the chance.

The trance of Afridi, who cracked an unbeaten 40-ball 54 to help out Pakistan to beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets victory at the Lord's, may come true after Younis Khan stepped down as the T20 skipper.

Having regained his magnificent touch with the bat and his bowling already being a strong weapon, Afridi is now most likely to succeed Younis as the T20 skipper.

"For the time being Shoaib Malik is ruled out of controversy for captaincy at any level and the way Afridi has performed and handled new found responsibilities as a superior player, he is certain to become the Pakistan captain for T20 cricket," one Pakistan Cricket Board official told PTI.

If Afridi comes at the controller of country's T20 squad, his first mission will be the one-off match against Sri Lanka on August 12 during their tour to the Sri Lanka.

And indications are that Afridi will also be captivating over as Pakistan's ODI captain if Younis decides to play the Test matches solitarily.

While asked about his aspiration to captain the team, Afridi earlier told a leading Urdu daily, "That is my ambition because it is an honor to lead your country."

Afridi also admitted that at one stage when he was not scoring runs during the last two years, was so irritated that had seriously thought about ending his career.

"But it was my bowling that kept me going because my bowling had enhanced and was a big bonus for the team that is why I hung on. I am happy that I have finally found my batting form in this tournament," he said.

"I told Younis I wanted to bat privileged up because I was not getting adequate time to settle down and play stretched innings.

There was too much stress on me to go and just start striking out. He said if I had confidence I should bat higher up,"

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