Afridi sets his sights on T20, ODIs

LAHORE Swashbuckling Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi has diverted all his concentration to one-day and T20 cricket and will only consider his return to Test cricket after the 2011 World Cup. He said that he wanted to keep himself fresh for the shorter and shortest versions of the game, the ODIs and T20 cricket. Afridi, who has scored 1683 Test runs at an average of 37.40 with five centuries, played the last of his 26 Tests in the summer of 2006 against England at Old Trafford. Afridi in an interview with Deutsche Welle Urdu service said that when he had a passion for test cricket he was not a permanently part of the team but now more cricket is being played and he wanted some rest from longer version of the game to focus on one-dayers and Twenty20 matches at least till 2011. He did not agree with the idea that Test cricket will suffer because crowd-pullers like Afridi and Englands Andrew Flintoff are out. I believe that Test cricket has benefited from the rise of limited-overs formats because they are more result-oriented now which is certainly a good sign. If people expect good game from cricketers likes of me and Flintoff then they have to understand that body demands rest, said the 29-year-old all-rounder. Often criticised for not turning his explosive batting potential into performance, Afridi responded with more responsible approach. He hit back-to-back half-centuries in the semi-final and final of the World Twenty20 held in England last June that performance led Pakistan to victory. Afridi said: According to pundits a batsman gets mature after 30 and now I am also getting in to my thirties. On Pakistan teams test series defeats since 2006 and ODI series losses this year, Afridi said he still believes that Pakistan can be one of the worlds top teams in both formats. We can be the best in both versions but for that I believe all our players will have to start thinking about giving their best for the country. They will have to put their personal differences aside and show more confidence in each other, he said. I believe that it is always easy to point the finger at others rather than find ones own faults, he stressed. About gelling the team as a T20 captain, Afrid said that he just treats all of his teammates like his brothers. I dont believe in having single friend in the team and deal all of them with the likes of my own brothers and that is why all of them respect me, he said. I also try to play my heart out each time I take the field because thats the only way a captain can get the best out of his players, he maintained. Afridi also expressed his belief that Pakistans preparations for the 2011 World Cup are yet to peak. I think our preparations are not 100 percent in right direction but we have also to consider that all events before World Cup are also very important. In order to show better results and avoid controversies, it is important to have a strong team management and our mind in a positive direction, he added.

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