Shahid Afridi to try and persuade international sides to tour Pakistan

Although former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi has been frozen out of the national team with his name tainted and disgraced quite a bit, it seems quite clear that he still believes that he owes quite a bit to Pakistan cricket, to say the least. Speaking in an exclusive interview to geo.tv, Afridi went on to state that it was the responsibility of every Pakistani cricketer to bring cricket back to Pakistan.

In recent times, Pakistan has seen a dearth of international cricket. In fact, since the 2009 Terrorist Attack on the Sri Lankan team, there have been just the ODIs against Zimbabwe played.

“It is the responsibility of every international Pakistani cricketer, including mine, to try to bring back international cricket to Pakistan,” said Afridi.

Afridi went on to add that the situation was much better in the country at the moment. “Situation in Pakistan is much better now. I think international teams should visit Pakistan. People here love cricket and have been deprived of it for too long,” the flamboyant all-rounder continued, adding that it is a good sign the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has invited West Indies for a T20 series in Pakistan.

Afridi also went on to add that it was important for the likes of Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq to have freedom when they do indeed decide to take the call for retirement. “They are both experienced players and the backbone of the team. They can decide for themselves whether to retire or continue playing,” the former captain said.

He finally went on to speak about the wickets the current Pakistan team is playing on in New Zealand and Australia.“Obviously the wickets in places like Australia and New Zealand are fast and our slow, flat pitches don’t prepare the players for faster tracks. We need to prepare faster tracks at home.”

He also added a line of regret for losing the semifinal of the 2011 World Cup in Mohali. “We came very close to winning that World Cup. Not winning it as a captain is regretful. I think it was Pakistan’s best ever performance in a world cup in a very long time,” he said.