PCB’s decision to hand over the responsibility to Shahid Afridi to lead his side in the World Cup has been receiving praises from all corners. Just a couple of days before Afridi scored 65 off just 25 balls that might have confirmed the decision in the minds of the selectors in advance.  He is the right man for the job. An aggressive fielder, a tormentor with the bat and a very tricky medium pace bowler who wisely adjusts the pace of his deliveries - can prove to be very effective on sub-continental tracks. Along with all these USP’s he possesses a body language which apart from wooing his female fan following, connects the team very well.  But the skipper has a very tough job ahead. The fans of Pakistan went through a major shock after ICC decided to ban Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif for ten, seven and five years respectively. Therefore Afridi and his teammates will have to perform at their best to gain back some respect for the country. And no doubt, they are capable of doing so. Every now and then, they have to deal with such a situation.  They are a team, which is at the moment full of in-form players. The advantage which they have is presence of players like Hafeez, Afridi and Razzak who are established batsmen and can also bowl their quota of 10 over each, which clearly means they will have a lot of depth in their batting line up. Sohail Tanvir and Wahab Riaz are pace bowlers who have recently shown that they are clean hitters of the ball as well and considering them as tail-enders could prove to be a disaster for the opponents.  The selectors might have excluded the experienced Mohammad Yousuf from the team, yet the way the team is playing at the moment, he hardly fits in. The youngsters Ahmed Shahzad and Asad Afiq have been in sublime form in the recent series against the Proteas and Umar Akmal is someone who is expected to play a major role in the team’s performance throughout the tournament. Not to forget, the team has a very strong foundation in form of experience of Younis Khan. The teammates and the fans would be expecting a lot from him being one of the most experienced players in the team.  With such a balanced team, all Afridi needs to do, is a more responsible approach towards his own batting. He needs to adopt the kind of approach he did when Pakistan won the T20 finals against Sri Lanka where he played an unbeaten knock of 54 runs off 40 balls that also earned him the man of the match award. It was an innings where he adopted a cautious approach. Everybody including the Sri Lankans were amazed to see him giving priority to singles. Then too Pakistan was under trouble where cricket was attacked by terrorism and now too the fans wouldn't be that happy after ICC's decision.  No doubt he has shown a lot of commitment as a skipper, but if only, he is a bit more responsible towards his batting approach, Pakistan can for sure repeat the honours after 1992.  Pakistan will face Kenya in their first match to be played on February 23.  Cricket writer: Suyash srivastava (New Delhi)   … [Read more...]