ISLAMABAD: Former T20 skipper Shahid Afridi who resigned from captaincy after a poor show in this year's World T20 said on Wednesday that Pakistan is not producing fine cricketers as the team's focus over the past few years has been on quantity rather than quality.
“Instead of going after quantity, we should concentrate on quality to meet the international standards,” he said while talking to a private news channel. Afridi, however, did not specify what he meant by quantity.
Afridi said there are more first-class cricketers now as compared to his early cricketing days when a break at this level was a difficult achievement.
“The team now is not like how it used to be back in the legendary Imran Khan's days. There used to be several stars but now there are just two or three.”
The 36-year-old pinpointed the lack of cricket at a grassroots level, such as in schools and colleges, to be the prime reason behind the game's downfall.
“There used to be school, district, college and university cricket but now it is not seen,” he said.
Afridi rejected the idea of a debut in politics and expressed his desire to set up cricketing academies for young talent in Pakistan.
The former T20 captain said the team had received massive support in India during the World T20. When quizzed about his controversial "more loved in India" statement, Afridi said it was made an issue by "some ex-players".
