“I hope to regain my place on the team soon and want to continue playing for eight years, which I think is a realistic goal.”
Dropped from the team that began a tour of West Indies in earnest on Wednesday, Shoaib wished the side well. “I sincerely hope that they return home successful.”
“Pakistan have won without Imran Khan and Wasim Akram and of course they can win without me,” he remarked in response to a question.
Shoaib, who had to miss the recent tour of India because of a hamstring injury is continuing to train four hours every day and is now in pretty good shape. “I am fit and raring to play for Worcestershire and want to prove my critics wrong.”
The Rawalpindi Express will soon be in England to feature on the county team. He will return to Islamabad on June 11 to appear in WFP’s “Fight Hunger- Walk the World” which is a global fund-raising event to be held in hundreds of communities across all 24 time zones.
At the news conference, Shoaib said that he wanted to help and support kids in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s rural areas to take up cricket. “With so much cricket going on, it is difficult to get time off from the game therefore Afghanistan being close by would suit me.”
Shoaib, 29, also refuted reports that Indian film-maker Mahesh Bhatt was coming to Pakistan to persuade him to appear in one of his films.
“I am trying to focus fully on cricket and am just not aware of his plans. If at all he comes to Islamabad, I will definitely host a dinner for him,” he said.
He also expressed his ignorance over accusations by Pakistan cricket boss Shaharyar M. Khan who in a recent letter had alleged that Shoaib was an indisciplined individual. “I have no idea about that letter and again, as I said I am focussing only on cricket.”
While Shoaib was the centre of attention during and after the press conference, the WFP’s Country Director German Valdivia said that the walk will also take place in Karachi and Lahore on the same date.
He pointed out that 800 million people across the globe went to bed without having proper food of which 300 million were children. “This walk aims to help put thousands of children into school and out of hunger.”