KARACHI, April 11: Veteran all-rounder Shahid Afridi wants his future Pakistan selections based on performance and to stay fit so he can keep playing cricket until the 2015 World Cup.

“My fitness level is good and I want to continue playing at the top level. I am definitely targeting the 2015 World Cup. But it depends on my form and fitness, and I will not be a burden for the selection committee,” Afridi said while talking to reporters during the break in the President’s Cup match between HBL and Wapda at the National Stadium here on Thursday.

“I, myself, am realising some weaknesses in my bowling, and whatever I know about my mistakes I am trying to overcome those. I will not play by force and neither would I like the selectors to select me without good performances,” he added.

The prospects for Afridi, who captained Pakistan to the 2011 World Cup semi-finals, are in doubt after he failed to get a wicket and scored only 126 runs in the five-match ODI series against South Africa last month.

Although Afridi was named in a provisional list of 30 for the ICC Champions Trophy in England and Wales in June, he is under public pressure to be dropped when the final squad is trimmed to 15.

Chief selector Iqbal Qasim said before the ODI series against South Africa that it will be the all-rounder’s last chance to perform in international cricket.

Afridi ranks third in Pakistan ODI history with 354 matches, with a batting average of 23 and a bowling average of 34 with his leg-spin. But his recent slump in form has raised questions about whether he can last until the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in two years when he will be 35. It would be his fourth World Cup.

Afridi quit Tests for a second time in 2010 after he was named captain for the Test series against Australia at a neutral venue in England, but retired from Tests after losing the first at Lord’s by 150 runs.

Meanwhile, former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt had said in a media statement earlier this week that coach Dav Whatmore should be removed because his association with Twenty20 captain Mohammad Hafeez was putting pressure on Test and ODI captain Misbah-ul-Haq.

But Afridi hit back at Ijaz, who removed him as ODI captain in 2011 after the World Cup.

“Ijaz Butt is too old. [So] he should rest and enjoy life instead of creating disintegration, disharmony and unrest in the Pakistan team," he commented.

“A lot happened in Ijaz’s tenure,” Afridi added. “I was removed as ODI captain despite a semi-final finish [in the 2011 World Cup] and [afterwards] I had won the last ODI series against the West Indies.

“When he [Ijaz] was the chairman, the spot-fixing scandal happened and international cricket also went away [from Pakistan].”

Afridi said he expected Pakistan to do well in the Champions Trophy.

“Misbah is leading the team well and our combination is very good, so I expect better results if we stick to our plans and play to our potential,” he said.—Agencies