PSL to help seniors, youngsters improve: Afridi
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ISLAMABAD: National Twenty20 skipper Shahid Afridi feels the forthcoming Pakistan Super League (PSL) will prove a big platform for both senior players as well as youngsters to learn and improve.
Afridi said PSL would be a great event in the history of Pakistan cricket.
“This league can help our senior players regain form whereas youngsters will get an opportunity to interact with international cricketers of repute and learn from their skills,” Afridi stated about the five-team league starting in Dubai on Feb 4.
Meanwhile, commenting on the recent T20 series loss (1-2) in New Zealand, Afridi reckoned though his team suffered defeat in the series yet they remained a formidable outfit capable of shocking any side in the world.
“Our performance has not been up to the mark quite recently but no one can downplay the green-shirts as we have the potential to rise,” claimed Afridi.
It was time for Pakistan players to get united and believe in themselves and their capabilities before starting the World T20 campaign, insisted the captain.
“We have very talented players in our team but still they have to prove their talent by performing [well],” he stated.
The skipper also expressed concern about the dip in form of Ahmed Shehzad and Sohaib Maqsood, stating both needed to work hard on their batting.
“Sohaib believed that he could perform well up the batting order. He was given the chance but he has not delivered,” Afridi said.
Responding to a question, Afridi said the T20 series against New Zealand had been helpful in identifying the weak areas.
“We tried out various options during the New Zealand series. It is true these options did not work for us but I believe we have learnt a lot. I think still we have the time and can plan for the World T20 in a better way,” Afridi said.
Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2016
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Comments (22) Closed
Feb 02, 2016 08:19am
Height of imagination at the dying moment of their career seniors will learn & improve, wow! One thing they surely need to learn is to play more & talk less.
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Feb 02, 2016 08:50am
PSL is just in its infancy. Yes, Pakistani players would get exposure to international players but it is a league with short duration so it is questionable how much time would the youngsters would get to learn from international players. However, if Pakistan team needs to improve, the first thing that they need to do is to get rid of non-performing players including Afridi. Yes, Afridi has won matches for Pakistan but he is extremely inconsistent and no team in the world will keep playing a player like this who performs once in a blue moon. If Afridi would have been in Australia, NZ, SA, England or India, he would have been dropped a long time ago. Pakistan unfortunately has to keep playing him because there is no good replacement for him.
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Feb 02, 2016 08:51am
will it help you get your place in national team justified?
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Feb 02, 2016 08:59am
Best of luck with PSL.
All this talk of IPL vs PSL has helped me appreciate IPL a lot more. Like most Indian fans I had this utter dislike for the IPL's effect on test cricket, but now I appreciate how it has helped Indian cricket become the powerful force it is today.
Cricket is a business. Even if the group of 11 on the field loses 5-0 to Namibia, the Indian cricket 'team' as a business entity always wins.
I have to say that I have to come to Dawn to get any small bit of PSL news. Noone in India knows anything about it. Regardless of what u believe, 200 million Pakistanis are not enough to make it a 'grand' success. Word has to get out more.
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Feb 02, 2016 09:40am
Afridi should be a leader rather than a cricketer, he speaks so much but performances are nil. Pak needs some victories in limited over games as a long tome gone pak is unable to win a series in shorten format. Today's cricket is the game of batsman so PCB should produce players like Sohail,Anwar, Inzamam,Salim Malik etc. and Waqar should give some tips to his bowlers who can bowl deadly yorkers because Waqar himself was the master of swinging yorkers,
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Feb 02, 2016 10:17am
All talk but no performance.
For the starters, completely get rid of A. Shezad and S. Maqsood....both are useless and hopeless. Then get rid of all the Akmal clan out of the cricket system. The junior Akmal has some potential but he is becoming like Shezad with major ego issues.
Then have our wrestling wicketkeeper lose about 20 to 25 lbs, once done have him open the innings as he is not a huge hitter of the game, and he can keep the score moving.
Hafeez is another story but I have a feeling he might do well in India as he tends to somehow score in sub-continent conditions. He did pretty well in NZ so worth sticking with him for another few months.
Finally, we need new life (youngsters) who can hit solid, field solid, and can become a game changer for the team.
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Feb 02, 2016 11:02am
And who will help Shahid Afridi !!
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Feb 02, 2016 11:08am
Sorry if senior and especially those who are very close to their retirements still seeking improvement than they don't deserve a place in our national team.
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Feb 02, 2016 11:21am
shahid... your learning doesn't seem to be starting even until your retirement.
what a skipper! such a fortunate team !
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Feb 02, 2016 11:37am
...but for t20 we need junior players and youngsters. Anyway thank you for your services for Pakistan.
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Feb 02, 2016 12:19pm
Dashing hero!!!
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Feb 02, 2016 12:27pm
He is certainly making a sincere effort towards to impress Mr. Murdoch, to achieve his dream of becoming becoming an expert and commentator after his so called retirement from Cricket.........
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Feb 02, 2016 12:38pm
PSL is a golden opportunity to select new players for the Pakistan team..but the problem is with PCB and specially its coach ..see the example of Anwer Ali...the coach was more interested in the news leak than the team itself...Hopefully PCB will now take the wisdom instead of favouritism...
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Feb 02, 2016 12:50pm
Supporting you all the way!!!!
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Feb 02, 2016 01:51pm
Pakistan cricket missed a trick here.....By hosting the inaugural national cricket tournament in a foreign country will attract the least amounts of crowds.....an estimate of a thousand people per game is the predicted stadium audience.....and then taking the same tournament back to Pakistan whenever security is better would have killed the charm of the whole tournament.....A better solution would be to wait a lil while ,improve the security in Pakistan and then start.....
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Feb 02, 2016 02:23pm
It does not make any difference whether you are senior or junior, when you are in the middle of ground. You need perform at any cost. If you don't then you are taking advantage of liability given to you. Good example is Shahid Afridi, who don't perform consistently, but talk more for other.
I don't understand him completely, a guy who were a caption of 2011 team but after loss he resigned. Now he changed his mind. Very Inconsistent.
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Feb 02, 2016 02:23pm
Ya sure, when you couldn't improve after playing 500 games, should PSL make it happen for you and you buddies?
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Feb 02, 2016 02:31pm
It really pains me now to even start thinking about writing on this character boom boom! I am now just waiting for him to announce his retirement so Pakistani cricket could come out of his shadow. He is a perfect example for all the youngsters what NOT to follow. Only thing that he can move swiftly is his tongue. Other than that his batting,averaging around 24 runs after 400+ matched speaker for itself. His bowling !!what can I say that has not been said earlier. Him speaking about learning is not even funny anymore. He single handedly destroyed so many young careers by not moving out of the team. Yet our nation of losers still think he will perform. GOD save us from ourselves.
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Feb 02, 2016 02:41pm
You can only learn from these outings when your fitness, discipline and technique is right. You cannot learn these things in such matches. Our problem is that the basics are either missing or not right. We should also realize that bar of the ODIs and Twenty 20s have raised considerably. Now safe defending scores are 350 for ODI and 200 for Twenty 20. The fielding standards now suit only the super fit . We are nowhere any of these.
First we need to get our basics right and that too based on merit.
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Feb 02, 2016 09:40pm
what abt your own personal performance, along with your buddy Shahzad & Akmal.
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Feb 02, 2016 10:02pm
@Masood Reza: sorry sir, Afridi only worked in Advertisement, nothing more, he is overage some body said if Afridi would have been in Australia,NZ,SA,Eng or India, he would have be dropped a long time ago, his age over 35 yrs weight has been increase, he can not run in field and perform bowling well. Pakistan unfortunately has to keep playing him because there is no cricketer in PCB who can judge his caliber, even though we have lot of good replacement for him. Young talented, 17-25 yrs age, which r suitable for T20, & ODI, Afridi is not performing himself, how can team do ??
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Feb 03, 2016 02:29pm
plzz put presure on your team and Improve your game also. Don't blame each other and ask ICC to regain the training acadmeis
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