I won't return to Test cricket, says Afridi

Pakistan's ODI captain Shahid Afridi has ruled out returning to play Test cricket despite being urged to lead the side in all three formats of the game by former skipper Imran Khan.

Afridi decided to retire from Test cricket last year although he was named captain for the entire Test and one-day series against Australia and England.

He retired from Tests after Pakistan lost to Australia under his captaincy and since then the flamboyant all-rounder has focused on playing just one-dayers and Twenty20 cricket.

"I don't think I am the sort of player who is ideal for Test cricket. So I have no plans to make a comeback to Test matches," Afridi told reporters at a function hosted for the World Cup team.

Afridi insisted that he enjoyed playing limited overs cricket and wanted to focus on these two formats and do justice to his captaincy.

"I am thankful to those former players who believe that I should also lead the team in Test matches but I don't think I am cut out for the five-day format," he said.

Imran has said that Afridi can return to Test matches primarily as a bowler.

Afridi, however, said that he was keen to make up for his relative lack of success in batting.

"I will focus a lot on my batting on the coming tour to the West Indies because I know people want to see me scoring runs. Now even my daughter has started saying 'Baba Boom Boom out'," Afridi said.

The experienced all-rounder, who has made 320 ODI appearances, said he was confident of making his mark as a batsman in the West Indies.

"Batting is one department I want to regain my form," said Afridi who last year scored two hundreds in the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka.

© PTI

Pak under tremendous pressure to do well in Champions Trophy: Afridi

Lahore, Aug.31 (ANI) : Newly appointed Pakistan vice captain Shahid Afridi has said that being the ICC Twenty20 World Cup champions, Pakistan will be under tremendous pressure in the Champions Trophy.

Expressing full confidence in his team, Afridi said the T20 World Cup triumph proves that Pakistan has the ability to win mega tournaments.

"Carrying the tag of T20 World Cup winners into Champions Trophy means there are automatically going to be a lot of expectations from us to do well. The way we won T20 World Cup means we have the ability to win the Champions Trophy, but the only thing is we have to develop mindset to handle pressure as well," The Daily Times quoted Afridi, as saying.

Afridi, who has recently been appointed captain Younis Khan's deputy replacing Misbah-ul-Haq, rejected reports of a rift in the team, saying his prime objective would be to perform both with the bat and ball.

He said there is no additional pressure on him after being appointed the vice-captain, and stressed that he would continue his natural 'boom boom' style during the Champions Trophy.

"Having been named as vice-captain is not going to mean any additional pressure on me because I have been around for a long time and Younis is a top captain who knows how to lead the side," he said, adding, "I have been given the T20 captaincy and now made the vice-captain. This is good enough for me now. But I know my primary and most important role still remains to contribute consistently as a player." (ANI)

ANI